Maverick fire meets goals, burns nearly 11,000 acres

U.S. Forest Service firefighters snuffed their torches and flame-throwers yesterday after intentionally burning nearly 11,000 acres of grassland along the Arizona-New Mexico border.

``I think we're done,'' said Rich Kvale, fire and aviation staff officer for Southern Arizona's Coronado National Forest.

``We met our objectives: We got the acreage we wanted, we got it done in a short time, and nobody got hurt,'' he said last night.

Fire crews burned about 2,000 acres Tuesday and ignited the rest yesterday in the southern Peloncillo Mountains east of Douglas. It was one of the largest ``prescribed burns'' ever in Arizona.

The firefighters dripped flame from hand torches and shot it from a flame-thrower-like ``heli-torch'' mounted on a helicopter. They also dropped pingpong balls filled with fuel and an igniting agent that makes them burst into flame after hitting the ground.

The Maverick fire was designed to thin out dense brush that has invaded the grasslands over the past century, due to overgrazing and wildfire suppression.

The burned area covers about 10,800 acres. But within that perimeter is a mosaic of burned and unburned patches, Kvale said.

``Only about 6,500 acres is black,'' he said.

Forest Service fire experts waited until this week to ignite the Maverick fire in part because spring rains increased the moisture content in the plants there. They wanted to wait until the plants were dry enough to sustain the fire and burn 40 percent to 60 percent of the brush.

The fire was ignited Tuesday morning on the south side of Geronimo Trail, the dirt road that bisects a big chunk of national forest along the Arizona-New Mexico border, 34 miles east of Douglas. It burned slowly at first, but around noon swirling winds blew embers north of Geronimo Trail, sparking several ``spot fires.''

A few of the spot fires ran up hillsides and burned large patches outside the fire's 17,000-acre ``primary perimeter.'' Ground crews and water-hauling helicopters worked to contain the biggest spot fires, and an air tanker was called in to drop fire retardant, Kvale said.

Because of Tuesday's suppression efforts, the cost of the Maverick burn will be around $35,000, about $10,000 more than predicted, he said.