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Residents may be forced to leave Madera

MADERA CANYON - The 4,450-acre Florida Fire has breached a containment line, crested the summit of the Santa Rita Mountains and sent fire managers back to the drawing board. If it doesn't rain in the next day or two, there's an 80 percent chance Madera Canyon will have to be evacuated, incident commander Larry Raley said. On Monday night, four elite "hotshot" crews were within a quarter-mile of completing the containment line on the fire's southern front, officials said. The firefighters made an impromptu camp just below 9,453-foot Mount Wrightson, hoping to finish the task as soon as the sun came up. But a shift in the winds caused the blaze to flare and produce 200- to 300-foot flames in the wee hours, when wildfires usually subside. That forced the hotshots to evacuate, and on Tuesday night fire mangers were still plotting a fallback position for the new containment line. Such lines are typically narrow fuel breaks where firefighters can ignite intentional blazes that rob a wildfire of vegetation to burn. The Florida Fire already has burned at least 80 acres beyond the original containment line, but that doesn't necessarily increase the threat to Madera Canyon, Raley said. Still, it's a setback that could cause the fire to grow to 20,000 acres, he said. The fire remains zero percent contained - meaning none of its perimeter is considered secure. Officials say it will take monsoon rains to extinguish the blaze, which began July 7 when a lightning bolt ignited a standing dead tree. Fire managers had said they expected the fire to be contained by Friday, but they have revised that to July 22, saying the information they gave out Monday was mistaken. In Madera Canyon, a world- renowned bird-watching area, crews on Tuesday cut down trees, swept debris from roofs, laid hose lines and erected sprinkler systems that will be turned on if the flames get too close. Surrounded by the whine of chain saws and beneath the thumping concussion of helicopters, Doris Hunt-Fann, 77, was fatalistic about the wildfire bearing down on her cabin. "If it's the Lord's will, something will stop it," she said on a shady porch adorned with nine bird feeders and visited by plenty of hummingbirds. Much of the fire is gently backing down the mountain, staying on the forest floor and doing ecological good by clearing out an excess of fuels. But when the fire consumed heavy timber Tuesday, dark plumes soared above Hunt-Fann's home. The smoke filtered the sun so that an orange light bathed the canyon, making it seem like sunset at high noon. Hunt-Fann, whose family began building the cabin in 1960, said fire officials told her she'll get 24 hours' notice before having to evacuate. "We'll go when they tell us we must. We're not going to be foolish," she said. With thunderstorms in the forecast, today and Thursday are shaping up as pivotal in the suppression effort. Those storms could douse flames with a downpour. Or they could stoke the fire with winds and cause it to blow out in all directions if gusty downbursts pummel the mountaintop. Lightning might also start new blazes in the region. "If a thunderstorm hits, that's what we're really gearing up for," said Dave La Tour, structure protection specialist for the firefighting team. Firefighters are concerned the main front of flames could back down into the canyon, but they're just as worried about burning embers falling on roofs. Meteorologists and fire-behavior analysts have told crews spot fires could start a half-mile beyond the main blaze if it gets windy. Burning embers might also ignite a fire at the mouth of Madera Canyon, which could then act as a chimney. That's the scenario Southern Arizona's fire community has feared for years, La Tour said. Firefighters said protecting the 30 or so buildings in Madera Canyon posed the same challenges they faced in the White Mountains during the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire and on Mount Lemmon during the 2003 Aspen Fire, each of which leveled hundreds of homes. "The houses here are in a bad spot," said Matt Summerfield, a parachuting smoke jumper from Idaho who was on terra firma Tuesday, supervising the felling of trees. "They're hard to get to. The road is narrow. The canyon is steep." More than 700 people were assigned to the fire, including 12 crews of hotshots and seven other 20-person crews. The suppression effort had so far cost taxpayers $2.3 million. Complementing the ground troops was an aerial assault featuring a half-dozen helicopters dumping water on hot spots. A trio of lumbering air tankers painted ridge tops crimson by repeatedly showering them with thousands of gallons of flame retardant. Dan Rieger, co-pilot of a Lockheed P-3 tanker, said it looked like the fire got much bigger Tuesday. "It's been making some pretty good runs," he said by phone from Fort Huachuca's Libby Army Airfield, where the tankers are refueling. "We've been flying like crazy."