<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000">
<font face="Arial">Alright then... <a
href="http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1276/">THIS</a> is why
prescribed burns during drought periods can be a very bad idea...<br>
<br>
Welcome to your latest Smokey the Bear-sponsored wildfire:<br>
<a href="http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1276/"><br>
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/1276/</a><br>
<br>
Luckily, the Grand Enchantment Trail has recently been relocated in the
Pinaleno Mountains away from the affected Frye Mesa and Deadman Canyon
areas, the latter of which had already burned to a large extent during
the Nuttall Complex Fire of 2004. Hopefully, prayers to the redemptive
gods toward man's grand ignorance, this new fire will run into the old
burn and run out of crown fuel.<br>
</font>
<h3>Summary</h3>
<p>The Frye Mesa Fire is burning in grass, oak woodland
and mixed brush vegetation in the Pinaleño mountains ("Grahams") south
of Safford, Arizona, on the Coronado National Forest. Residents of the
Gila Valley will continue to see active fire behavior as the fire
continues to burn upslope and hot, dry weather conditions persist. No
homes or other structures are in immediate danger from the fire's
growth. Yesterday, Red Flag wind conditions contributed to the fire's
movement up on top of Frye Mesa and to the east toward Deadman Canyon.
Breezy conditions were experienced through Wednesday night and are
expected through Thursday. Cloud cover and possible moisture are
predicted late Thursday and may lessen fire activity.</p>
<p>The
100-acre Frye Mesa Prescribed Burn was ignited Tuesday morning, May 20,
to reduce sweet resinbush, a noxious plant. The burning prescription
called for hot, dry conditions. Plans called for completion of the burn
by 1:00 p.m. Strong winds were experienced around noon on Tuesday. A
spot fire was detected about 300 yards from the prescribed burn and
upslope. Helicopters and hand crews aggressively attacked the spot
fire, which quickly grew and spread uphill. At 1:15 p.m., the
prescribed burn was declared a wildfire, additional personnel
responded, including multiple air tankers. While there was initial
success in suppressing the fire, it grew significantly with the strong
and erratic winds that developed on Wednesday.</p>
<br>
</body>
</html>