Arizona / West

Containment now 45% for Graham fires

SAFFORD - Firefighters declared a near-victory Friday evening against two Mount Graham blazes that a few days ago appeared to be imperiling cabins and telescopes on the mountain. But they refused to say that the Columbine and Turkey Flat cabins and the University of Arizona's telescope complex were totally out of danger, although officials declared the Gibson and Nuttall fires 45 percent contained. About 27,630 acres had burned as of Thursday evening. About $7.2 million has been spent fighting the fires so far. Workers have dug and burned out fire lines across all but a short portion of the northwestern, southwestern, southern and southeastern edges of the blazes. Most of the north side does not have fire lines because authorities concluded the fire wouldn't do a great deal of damage if it proceeded in that direction and might do some good to the lower-lying desert below the mountains. "There's still a level of risk - it is greatly diminished," said Dan Oltrogge, the fires' incident commander, just after meeting with more than 100 area residents. Although dry weather is expected to return next week following a humid weekend on the mountain, Oltrogge said there is little chance of the fire's damaging cabins or telescopes once firefighters finish digging and burning on the fire lines this weekend. Originally, Forest Service officials had predicted that the fires would cover 50,000 acres and that the federal government would spend $12 million fighting the fires. On Friday, fire crews put on a mammoth burnout exercise just east-northeast of the 74 Turkey Flat cabins at about 7,400 feet elevation. Clouds of smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the air, with flames flashing about halfway to the top of the clouds. Firefighters said the combination of humid weather and the burns had damped down a blaze that easily could have wiped out many of the wooden cabins had the dry weather of the past few weeks persisted. "Three days ago, this community was in grave danger," said Ralph Lucas, a Prescott Fire Department firefighter who heads a task force that was protecting the Turkey Flat cabins. "The fire was running up one canyon and back down into the next canyon. "Then, Mother Nature did its thing, the humidity went up and the fire intensity went down. Without the weather change, there was a significant chance of burning.". Many of the cabins, colored green, reddish brown, blue, black, white and gray, were virtually walled in with tall trees, some several feet in diameter. Some of the trees stood right next to the homes. After the fire dies down, the Forest Service will work with cabin owners to have them remove dead and dying trees, clean duff and pine needles from the forest floor and make sure wood piles aren't stacked next to the cabins, said Chris Peterson, the Safford Ranger District's fire management officer. The Forest Service owns the land and leases it to the cabin owners, who generally use the cabins as second homes.