Saddle Fire

This started Thursday July 15 with a lightning strike in the middle of a non-inhabited area of about 20 acres of brush. Then it jumped the paved road & burned a bunch more. This was right near where my dirt roads meet the paved road. It is 2 miles by road and about 1 1/2 mile away straight line. The road there is Empty Saddle Trail, so the firefighters named this fire, Saddle Fire. One neighbor was right up near there on his cell phone because the entire area was down due to a major equipment failure of Verizon's. He didn't see the strike but sure heard the thunder right behind him.


Here the fire is finishing up on my side but has hit a thick patch of brush on the other side of Red Mtn Rd. on the right where the huge upwelling of dark smoke is.




And here it is running out of stuff to burn. Shortly after this photo, I joined a bunch of neighbors out on the road to watch the mop-up and share information, since none of us had working phones. (Now it is Tuesday, and we still have no phones)

Saddle Fire, con't

A bit out of focus, but showing the flames & some of the fire trucks.

Cactus Fire

The brown smoke on the left is coming from the saddle fire on the other side of Red Mtn. Rd. The big upwelling of white smoke on the right is from the Cactus Fire which is about 3 to 4 miles away in a straight line. At this point, the wind was out of the SW which was pushing the fire away from us, mostly. That one burned hundreds of acres before it was over.

Saddle Fire--the next day

The fire ended up at about 80 acres with most of it on the other side of Red Mountain Rd. This is the 20 acres or so on my side.


Here is some of the orange fire-retardant chemical the plane dropped.


And here is how the fire crew stays hydrated! They must buy it by the pallet. I hope they recycle all those bottles.