Tucson Region

Scopes can thank their lucky stars for firefighters

GREEN VALLEY - Firefighters cleared vegetation and set up sprinklers Saturday to protect $100 million worth of equipment at a mountaintop observatory that is now only about a mile from the 22,000-acre Florida Fire. Crews were prepared to conduct "burnout" operations to reduce the vegetation around the Smithsonian Institution's Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory atop 8,550-foot Mount Hopkins, just west of the fire in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson. The observatory's staff was evacuated Tuesday. Fire officials are cautiously optimistic that the observatory, a joint venture of the Smithsonian and the University of Arizona, will be saved, said Paul Summerfelt, the deputy incident commander for the Southwest Area Incident Management Team. "We're confident that we've got this fire where we want it," he said Saturday. "We've got the resources, the right number of people, the right terrain." More than 950 personnel are at work on the Florida Fire, named for the peak where the lightning-sparked blaze started July 7. Thirteen "hotshot" fire crews and six other crews are working on the blaze, along with three heavy helicopter tankers, 27 fire engines and six bulldozers. Four more air tankers were to arrive Saturday. Seven injuries have been reported, none serious, said Heidi Schewel, a fire information officer. The firefighting cost is about $4.5 million. Fire officials said the fire was moving slowly through rugged, mainly heavily vegetated terrain. It was about 40 percent contained Saturday afternoon. Officials do not yet have an estimate on full containment. Summerfelt said several more burnout operations were planned in the coming days on the west and south sides of the fire that are expected to increase the size of fire to about 60,000 acres. "That does not mean that it will look like a moonscape. It won't be. There will be areas that are not burned," Summerfelt said. Officials are explaining the burnout plan to members of the public in town-hall meetings being held around the area. A successful burnout operation in Madera Canyon, just north of the observatory, will help protect about 30 homes and other structures in the canyon, fire information officer Rick Hartigan said. Those structures were evacuated last week. Besides Madera Canyon, a favorite hiking, picnicking and bird-watching area, the fire also is burning within the Mount Wrightson Wilderness Area. Southern Arizona residents should expect to see - and in some areas, smell - a lot more smoke around the Santa Rita Mountains over the next several days as fire crews continue the large burnout operations, Summerfelt said. The county Health Department this week issued a smoke advisory for residents of Green Valley, about 11 miles west of the fire, Sahuarita and Corona de Tucson. Schewel said the operation will be halted if stiff winds from the north or south begin to blow. Winds from the north would be bad for the burnout around Mount Hopkins, and winds from the south would be bad for the burnout in Madera Canyon . The National Weather Service forecasts south winds about 10 mph today, becoming westerly in the afternoon, then shifting to the southwest after midnight. The forecast includes little chance of moisture in the next few days, with only a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms through Monday night. The Tucson area is heading toward the second-latest monsoon start on record, said Jeff Davis, with the National Weather Service. The latest monsoon start date is July 25, 1987 - the same year that Tucson set a record of 39 days of at least 100 degrees. With several more days of 100-plus temperatures predicted, that record looks like it will fall. Today will be the 34th consecutive day of at least 100-degree heat, Davis said. Florida Fire smoke drifts into Tucson A shift in the wind caused smoke from the Florida Fire to drift into Tucson on Saturday night. The Tucson Fire Department received several calls about the smoke, said Capt. Paul McDonough, a spokesman. Anyone in at-risk groups - those with heart or lung disease, the elderly and children - should go inside or reduce exertion if they're concerned about smoke, said county health officials last week when smoke advisories were issued for the area because of the fire.