(Update: 11:49pm) Well I lied… one more update. First off there has been a new EIN Update on the fire. The full text of it is below but the summary of it is: The Gladiator Fire grew to approximately 2,000 acres today and we have 5% containment. There is also another community meeting tomorrow in Mayer at 6pm at Mayer High School.
For the second part of the update, as I said before the owners of the Crown King General Store, Ben and Carol Boles have been in town keeping the store open for the fire fighters to get supplies. Carol came down the mountain today. Ben is currently shutting down operations at the General Store, turning off generators and securing everything. He will be leaving shortly to come off the hill. Very few people remain in Crown King, and it looks like they are all being urged to leave tonight. For the Crown King residents, Ben is bringing all US Postal Service Mail that was left in people’s boxes down off the hill with him. He will deliver it to the Mayer Post Office sometime tomorrow. We will update the blog when that happens.
(Update : 11:04pm) We are done for the night. We will have topo maps with fire area overlays in the morning and will update all day tomorrow.
(Update: 10:33pm) We are not ones to speculate, so we will let you watch the videos below and decide for yourself on the situation in Crown King. We will continue to post updates tonight and we will be back in the morning with another full update.
No real update here, will have one soon on this page so check back. Just wanted to say I will be linking to newscasts coverage and trying to get copy of full community meeting from the news stations. There are lots of rumors going around about what was said at meeting. I don’t want to post anything that isn’t verified.
For those that are worried, Carol is off the hill, she drove down this afternoon on the main road.
Check back to this post in the next few hours for the update and we will lots of updates tomorrow.
Channel 12’s 10pm coverage of the Gladiator Fire in Crown King: This is probably the best coverage of the night and of the community meeting held in Mayer for Crown King Residents. William Pitts of NBC 12 News did a great job covering the meeting.
Channel 3’s 9pm coverage of the Gladiator Fire in Crown King, AZ:
Channel 10’s 9pm Coverage of the Gladiator Fire in Crown King, AZ:
Helicopter Video Footage of Gladiator Fire:
Update From Arizona’s Emergency Information Network (11:15pm)
(Posted on May 15, 2012 at 11:15 p.m.) The Gladiator Fire is approximately 2,000 acres and is estimated to be 5 percent contained.
A community meeting is planned for Wednesday, May 16 at 6:00 pm at the Mayer High School, 17300 E. Mule Deer Drive, Spring Valley, AZ.
Forecasted drier weather and associated strong winds may continue to complicate suppression efforts. Winds from the southeast and south are expected to push the fire north and northwest on Wednesday. Fire behavior is expected to be extreme. Firefighters continue working to suppress the fire and provide structure protection to homes in the community. Firefighting resources will focus on perimeter control when they can do so safely. Crews are also working to protect structures and communication sites west of the fire. In areas where direct attack is not feasible, they will focus on protecting individual structures ahead of the fire.
Fire Facts
- Cause: Human Caused; originated from a structure fire on private property
- Time/Date Started: Sunday, May 13 @11:00am
- Location: Community of Crown King (T10N, R1W, S14)
- Jurisdiction: Private property and the Prescott National Forest
- Fuels: Ponderosa pine and chaparral
- Values at Risk: The community of Crown King and the Horsethief Basin. Additional threats are posed to Forest Service campgrounds, lookout towers, communications sites, power lines and historic sites within the forest.
- Terrain: Steep, rugged, difficult access
- Resources: 3 Type-1 Crews, 4 Type-2 Crews, 11 Engines, 3 Type-1 Helicopters, 1 Type-3 Helicopter, 6 Type-1 Airtankers, Air Attack
- Total no. of personnel: 462
- Injuries to date: 2
If anyone needs help, please let us know. We dont have much, but we offer our home to those who need it from Crown King. I will be checking the comments to see if there is someone who needs us in Phoenix.
Very sad for the town, but even sadder that some holdouts from the mandatory evacuation are willing to potentially endanger the lives of fire fighters when they eventually need rescue themselves,