Latest Forest Fire on the Rim: The Graybill Fire

 We assumed the right to name it since we discovered and reported it.

Last night we had an enormous thunderstorm.  Lightning, thunder, rain, the whole bit.  It all sounds a LOT louder when you are in a camper.

Lasted quite a while. 

Today, when hiking, we saw smoke off into the woods, so went into the woods to explore.  It was clear that lightning hit the tree, the top fell down, and it had been burning for almost 12 hours.

 

It's about 1/8 mile from where we camped last night (maybe not where we'll camp tonight, though, if you get our drift).

Frankly, this is just too weird.

Night before last we had a terrific camp spot high on the rim, about 20 miles from here.  But there was a forest fire along the rim, the Brady fire, so we decided to do the discretion is the greater part of valor thing and go home to sleep and try again.

So today we hiked toward the fire, obtained the GPS coordinates, and called 9-1-1, who hooked us up with the Forest Service.  An hour later a crew arrived from Flagstaff--they must have left within a few minutes of getting the call.  When they got to what they believed was the correct forest service road they called us.  Vicky, a natural navigator, told them a much better way to get to the fire.  If Vicky had been the navigator for Christopher Columbus, they would have reached India instead of the Americas.  She's a map wizard.  

There were three vehicles and about 8 firefighters.  An hour later two more vehicles arrived. 

 

They all put on their yellow gear, which had to be very hot in the Arizona sun.

The guy in charge said that it was the kind of fire that if it was still smoldering in a few days could have burned hundreds of acres.  The Fire Captain said that when lightning strikes a tree it makes the roots of the tree extremely hot.  It was potentially the birth of a major forest fire.

So I told him that Vicky wanted me to ask him if we could get a couple of Junior Firefighting badges.  He laughed.  (of course she hadn't said this).  I also asked him if they could name it the Graybill fire.  He laughed again.  Old man humor works with everyone.  

We are waiting for them to finish up.  He will let us know if it is safe to stay here tonight.  If not, we'll go somewhere else and deal with yet another forest fire.

There is NOBODY out here but us.  If we hadn't been here, and if we hadn't hiked this morning and noticed something unusual, something bad might have happened.  We'll never know.  These forests belong to all of us, including our families, and so we are happy we could do something.

Vicky had brought along a package of her home-made fudge.  She cut it up into pieces, and sent it with one of the firefighters back to the station to share with the rest.  How often do firefighters get rewarded with "Grandma Vicky fudge" for their work?  

Update:  3 hours later.  The guy in charge drove all the way back here to give us some children's Smokey the Bear Badges.    Can you believe that?  What a fun guy.  

The crew worked several hours on the fire--the water truck left once, refilled with water, and came back to dump more on it.  Very thorough.  You can all feel good about your tax money that goes to the National Forest.

We'll wear them with pride!

Update the next day:  

Here is how it looked the next morning.  All taken care of.

We discovered a wildfire and are responsible for saving Smokey the Bear’s forest.  We are now two proud Smokey’s Fire Patrol Deputies!