The Southwest Area Type 2 Incident Management Team 4 will host a community meeting tonight, on Monday, August 28, at 7:00 PM at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 546 W. Ashby Apple Drive, Payson, AZ. The meeting will include presentations from the incident management team and the Tonto National Forest, followed by a question and answer session. American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation will be provided.
Operations: The Valentine Fire acreage remains unchanged from yesterday. Higher humidity in the area is preventing fuels from drying out, resulting in minimal potential for growth along the edges of the fire. Crews have successfully completed 100% of planned line preparation and 90% of the point protection efforts, resulting in an overall increase in completion of operational objectives to 29%. Firefighters are now focusing their efforts on assessing repair needs along dozer lines and scouting for potential contingency lines as an added layer of protection for adjacent communities. Firefighters have assessed all structures in the Colcord Mountain Estates and Ponderosa Spring subdivisions to develop a structure protection plan that identifies any actions and/or resources needed in the event of a future fire in the area. The objectives of the Valentine Fire, include line preparation and point protection, are designed to support the Forest Service Wildfire Crisis Strategy, a national strategy to address the wildfire crisis in places where it poses the most immediate threats to communities. To learn more about the Wildfire Crisis Strategy, please visit: https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/wildfire-crisis.
Weather: Conditions will be mostly clear, becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon. A slight chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms exists, although most of the shower activity is expected to be south of the fire area. However, outflow winds from distant thunderstorms could still affect the area. Overall winds will be light and mainly terrain-driven with a noticeable westerly component developing in the afternoon. Temperatures will be above normal in the middle to upper 80s. A drier air mass in place will result in lower humidity today, dropping into the 20-25% this afternoon.
Closures: The Tonto National Forest has issued an emergency area closure for the Valentine Fire. 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. The full closure order (No. 03-12-05-23-22) and map are available on the Tonto National Forest website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/tonto/alerts-notices/?aid=82769.
Safety: The health and safety of firefighters and the public are always the first priority. Members of the public should stay away from Valentine Fire operations. A temporary flight restriction (TFR) is in place over the area, which includes unmanned aircraft, or drones. More information on the dangers drones pose to wildland firefighting aircraft and personnel on the ground can be found at: https://uas.nifc.gov/.
Smoke: Smoke from the Valentine Fire may be visible in the surrounding areas. Learn more about smoke impacts on the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality website at https://azdeq.gov/wildfire-faqs.
Fire details:
Fire information:
Fire updates are posted on InciWeb and the Tonto National Forest Facebook, and Twitter pages
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (928) 588-4033
Office Hours: 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM