Tucson Region

Fire closes on Graham scopes

A sleeper wildfire that awoke Friday with the resurgence of hot, dry, windy weather was on the verge of overrunning the telescope complex atop Mount Graham on Saturday night. The 1,800-acre Gibson Fire, sparked by lightning June 22, was within three-quarters of a mile of the observatories after spending the past two weeks overshadowed by the nearby 3,500-acre Nuttall Fire. At risk is the University of Arizona's $110 million Large Binocular Telescope. The LBT is expected to become the world's most powerful observatory when it's fully operational atop Southern Arizona's highest peak, perhaps by 2006. Two existing telescopes at the 8.6-acre site are also in danger. So is habitat for the Mount Graham red squirrel, an endangered rodent at the center of lawsuits, civil disobedience and environmentalists' failed campaign to block the telescopes in the 1980s and 1990s. There are also about 100 cabins in the Pinaleno Mountains, but the fire was still several miles away from them, officials said. The absence of monsoon moisture also let the Willow Fire near Payson reach 69,000 acres, but fire managers said the town was secure and no evacuations were expected. On Mount Graham, 75 miles northeast of Tucson, fire crews and telescope staff worked to prepare the site for an onslaught of flames. But a lack of escape routes forced them to retreat midday Saturday. Crews battling the Nuttall and Gibson fires were also pulled off the line and were staged at the Columbine Work Center, waiting for the fire to subside. Officials said the blaze was igniting spot fires ahead of it by spitting out embers. Flames were sometimes leaping from treetop to treetop. Because of the worsening conditions, fire managers on Saturday sent 10 more elite "hotshot" crews, bringing the total to 19. They also ordered two military C-130 tankers able to lay down belts of flame retardant. All but four members of the telescopes' staff were evacuated Friday evening. The remaining personnel were reported to have turned on a pre-existing sprinkler system that is connected to a 50,000-gallon water tank. "The idea is that you moisten the forest around the site so if a big wall of flame comes up it slows it down," LBT Director John Hill said. Much of the spruce-fir forest around the site has died in the past few years due to an insect infestation. Fire danger in the Pinalenos has also been elevated for years due to long-term drought and decades of fire suppression that have left the steep, rugged range with one of the Southwest's highest fuel loads. Should flames reach the telescopes, their fate "depends on how fast the fire comes through and how big it is," said Hill, adding that its "likely" the site will be tested by the blaze. In the past few years, the UA has thinned the forest 100 feet out from the steel-enclosed telescopes to make them more defensible. It also added double-paned, tempered windows and put screens on air intakes so firebrands aren't sucked inside. The Forest Service has removed trees along Arizona 366, also known as the Swift Trail, hoping to use it as a fuel break. Officials were managing the two blazes in the Pinalenos jointly as the Nuttall Complex. They said it was 5 percent contained, meaning 1/20th of its perimeter wasn't at risk of expanding. It was unclear if the Gibson and Nuttall fires, now six miles apart, will eventually merge, fire information officer Kim Hunter said. The Gibson Fire "skunked around for a few days," at times not putting up any smoke, spokeswoman Jennifer Plyler said. Firefighters tried to put it out with water drops by helicopters, but on Friday it took off. Northeast of Phoenix, the 69,000-acre Willow Fire is within two miles of Payson. But firefighters have their most secure line on that flank. The buffer was created largely through burnout operations in the last few days, with crews setting intentional fires to rob the main blaze of fuel, said Sandra Dingman, a fire spokeswoman. Still, ash was falling in Payson, 60 miles northeast of Phoenix, and a smoke advisory was in effect. The lightning-caused fire, now 10 percent contained, is burning in extremely rugged terrain in the Tonto National Forest and threatening four residences and 15 other buildings. By Saturday, the Willow Fire had racked up $3.7 million in suppression costs. The tab for the Nuttall Complex stood at $2.1 million, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. At both the Willow Fire and the Nuttall Complex, conditions are expected to stay hot and dry in the coming week, the National Weather Service said. "There's not a lot of moisture out there," said Glen Sampson, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service's Tucson bureau. Temperatures around Safford are forecast to be near 100 over the next few days, but the wind is expected to be light. On average, the monsoon begins July 3, but it remains MIA, with moisture stuck deep in Mexico. Computer models suggest summer rains may begin next weekend, but Sampson cautioned "that's a week out, so whether that'll actually happen is questionable."