Yesterday, with the sunnier weather crews were able to continue to progress the fire’s edge to the south towards FSRD 411. Today crews will continue with hand and aerial operations adding depth to the interior of the fire.
Operations: Yesterday, warmer and dryer conditions allowed crews to continue hand and aerial ignitions, creating more depth towards the southern containment line. Scouting continued to the north side of Haigler Creek. Today, crews will work the southern edge of the fire along FSRD 411, conducting hand and aerial ignitions to add depth to the interior of the fire and keeping the line even with the road. Crews will be using heavy equipment to add depth to the containment line along FSRD 848.
Fire Ecology: ‘Fire regime’ is a term that is used to describe the typical roles of fire in specific vegetation types. The two most commonly used measures for a fire regime are frequency (how often an area burns) and severity (how much change there is before and after a fire). A ponderosa pine forest has a high frequency / low severity fire regime because it evolved with frequent fires which did not kill most of the dominant vegetation (ponderosa pines). Grasslands usually have a high frequency/high severity fire regime because fires consume most of the dominant vegetation (grass).
Weather: Yesterday, conditions were dryer, sunnier, and warmer than previous days. Today is expected to be sunny and warm with a High in the high 70’s and slight winds out of the northeast.
Closures: An emergency closure order for the Valentine Fire went into effect as of 6 a.m. Sept. 5, 2023. The public is asked to avoid the fire area. The purpose of the closure order is to protect public health and safety during the Valentine Fire, and to protect assigned firefighting personnel engaging in wildland firefighting operations. Signs and gates will be in place to remind the public not to enter the fire area. Please visit the Alerts and Notices page for more information: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/tonto/alerts-notices.
Safety: The health and safety of firefighters, and the public are always the highest priority. Members of the public are asked to avoid the fire area.
Smoke: The fire will produce considerable amounts of smoke due to excessive fuel accumulation. Smoke from the Valentine Fire may be visible in the surrounding areas for many days. Smoke-sensitive individuals and people with respiratory problems or heart disease are encouraged to take precautionary measures. An interactive smoke map available at, https://www.airnow.gov/wildfires/ allows you to zoom into your area to see the latest smoke conditions.
Fire details:
Important fire information:
Tonto National Forest: https://www.fs.usda.gov/main/tonto/fire
InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-information/aztnf-valentine-fire
Fire Email: [email protected]
Fire Information Line (928) 421-4579
Office Hours: 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM