Just spoke with Carol Boles who is still at the Crown King General Store. There is a lot of activity in town with fire crews. Flames are visible from the store on the hills North of town. Power is still out in town and has been for 24 hours now. APS has said that they are ready to start repairing the power lines to town as soon as the forest service gives them access to the area. Right now it is still too dangerous for the crews to be in the area. Once APS is allowed in it should take another 24 hours for them to fix the lines and restore power to Crown King. Reports say that the Gladiator Fire has burned seven power poles so far.
The main road was open for evacuation for a short time today, but is once 
again closed. Reports say that the fire is too strong around mile marker 23 for civilians to pass. Anyone looking to evacuate should stop at the Crown King General Store for up to date information on evacuation and the best suggested route.
In listening to radio traffic of the air crews it appears that 3 additional slurry bombers were ordered and 4 sky crane helicopters should be on scene soon. Two of the slurry bombers have been grounded for maintenance issues. The crews seem to be focusing on the North side of the fire as that is the most active and closest to structures. No more structures in Crown King have burned, but radio traffic indicates they are placing slurry between the fire and 
some structures. Hopefully as the temperatures start to cool the fire will slow down enough to gain some containment.
Fire crews that have been seen in town so far and working on the Gladiator Fire are:
- Chino Valley Fire Crew
- Peeples Valley Fire Crew
- Verde Valley Fire Crew
- Mayer Fire Crew
- Central Yavapai Fire Crew
- Surprise Fire Crew
- Sun City Fire Crew
- Groom Creek Fire Crew
- Glendale Fire Crew
- Daisy Mountain Fire Crew
- Wildlands Fire Crew
- Navajo Hot Shots
- Crown King Fire Department
- USFS Crews (numerous)
- Payson Fire Crew
- Black Canyon City Fire Crew
A big thank you to all the fire crews that are working hard to gain some containment on the Gladiator Fire and save Crown King.
Photo Credit: All photos taken by Carol Boles
All media requests please contact our real estate office at: 623-492-0600
Stay safe guys, Praying for rain and quick containment
We are praying the fire will soon be contained & the town & everyone will be safe. We lived there for 11 years. It is a very nice place & would be so sad to see all that ‘history’ distroyed.
Thanks Jackie for the kind words.
Am watching this unfold from very-far away Hongkong. Friend of Paul and Christine’s, and their beautiful cabin up North. Visited many times.
Good luck to you all, stay safe, and my admiration for the people of Crown King, and all you courageous firefighters! Martin
Thanks for the international visit Martin. We will have another update this morning.
Our hearts go out to all the families of CK, we have always appreciated the community of folks that make this town feel like home every time we visit. Please post any information so we are able to donate time and or money to help. Wishing all of you a quick recovery! Dave n Kat