Tucson Region

Update: Mt. Graham telescopes, cabins safe for now

SAFFORD — The 6,588-acre Gibson Fire and 6,215-acre Nuttall Fire continue to grow on Mount Graham, but they aren't posing an immediate threat to three telescopes and dozens of cabins, fire officials said Monday morning. The Gibson Fire remains about three-quarters of a mile east of the Mount Graham International Observatory and winds from the southwest and west are pushing flames away from the complex. The two lightning-sparked fires are still expected to merge sometime this week. Firefighters continue to clear fuel along Arizona 366, also known as the Swift Trail, in advance of burning out the area so the main fire is deprived of fuel when it arrives. "We think this whole operation will probably take us a good five to six days to get it blackened in," said Pruett Small, the fire's operations section chief. Crews are also removing vegetation from around structures at Turkey Flat and Columbine. They're also wrapping some homes with insulated thermal sheets and dousing them with fire retardant. Firefighters may begin burning out near the telescopes today or tomorrow to create a bigger buffer there. The observatory has a 60,000-gallon water tank connected to a pre-existing sprinkler system, but fire officials don't plan to turn that on until the last hour before the fire arrives. "We hope to get a line in and get it burned out so we never have to turn on the sprinkler," Small said. The telescope also has a concrete-enclosed "safe room" where three observatory staff members and about nine others can seek shelter if the fire impinges on the 8.6-acre site. About 800 people are assigned to the fire, which has so far cost $3.4 million to suppress. Fire managers said they're now spending about $500,000 per day on the incident, with the cost heavily dependent on how many aircraft are used. Firefighters won't try to stop the fire from burning across the Pinalenos north-facing slopes because they say the area is too rugged and dangerous for a ground-based assault. "When all is said and done, it potentially has the ability to be 50,000 acres," deputy incident commander Paul Summerfelt said. "That doesn't mean we'll have 50,000 acres of black. There are some areas that won't burn or will have light damage." The spine of the Pinalenos, which runs some 20 miles from northwest to southeast, is the best place to make a stand, Summerfelt said. "That's just the safest location to put firefighters and it's our highest probability of success," he said. Although fire officials said they have made progress constructing fuel breaks and preparing structures for a possible onslaught of flames, they cautioned that the fire could easily grow more active in coming days. "It has the potential to get up and run again if things line up," Summerfelt said. According to the latest maps posted by the fire's management team, the Gibson Fire is still about three-quarters of a mile east of the telescope complex and 1.5 mile north of Heliograph Peak, site of numerous radio towers and communications equipment. Flames appear about 2.5 miles to the northwest of Turkey Flat, site of about 100 cabins. "We think we have a week or so until the fire is at the Turkey Flat area," Small said. The Gibson Fire looks to have burned about one-fifth of a refugium set up for endangered Mount Graham red squirrels. The area, above 10,000 feet elevation, is normally closed to the public. About 3.5 miles to the northwest of the Gibson Fire, the Nuttall Fire was secure along its western flanks, but continuing to spread east. The fire had burned right up to 9,000-foot Clark Peak and was about 2.5 miles west of the Columbine area, home to about 50 structures, including summer cabins, a Bible Camp and a Forest Service work center. Fire officials are expecting humidity to increase this week with the possible arrival of monsoon rains this weekend. "Until then, we're in critical fire behavior time of year," Small said.