Tucson Region

Structures spared except tower, shed

As it stands, the only casualties from the Nuttall Fire Complex were a lookout tower that was no longer in use and a communications shed that is nearly obsolete. The fire swept up parts of Heliograph Peak, destroying a communications structure and damaging the lookout tower, said Julian Rhinehart, a fire information officer with the Southwest Interagency Management Team working on the blaze. "The damage was confined to that area, and we don't expect more damage," Rhinehart said. The communications shed had cinder block walls, but its wood roof burned and collapsed, damaging electronic equipment, said Kent Romney, a fire information officer. A company that provided Internet service to Graham County administrators and to Safford-area customers of CableOne had equipment damaged, said Stephen Brideau, general manager for CableOne's Safford office. CableOne temporarily restored the path after 42 hours and has since completed a fiber-optic line that now completely bypasses the peak, Brideau said. "We won't be returning to the peak now that the fiber optic is installed, and the Graham County supervisors have done the same thing," he said. All the structures at the Mount Graham International Observatory and all 89 cabins in Turkey Flat and Columbine were spared, Romney said. All the campgrounds and picnic areas on Mount Graham also appear to have weathered the fire, he said. Gene Robert Larson, 74, who maintains the water system for 74 cabins at Turkey Flat, said water pressure was weak when he and several others toured the cabin area Monday. Larson said he suspects a tree or limb fell on one of the water lines, but he was not allowed to investigate the source of the problem. U.S. Forest Service officials told him it would be at least another week before he and other cabin owners could return.