Crown King Gladiator Fire – Day 4 Update 2

(Update 5:28pm: The two slurry bombers/air tankers made successful passes on the West side of the fire and 5 more were ordered to start making immediate runs)

(Update 5:10pm: Two slurry bombers were ordered back to the area to try making test runs to see how the winds were doing)

We will have a more detailed update in a few hours, but we wanted to keep everyone up to speed on the Gladiator Fire in Crown King, AZ.  Winds have been a big issue today with gusts between 30 and 40mph.  The high winds again grounded the Slurry Bombers in the afternoon, but they are trying to get a few more runs in after 6pm until it gets dark.  Type 1 Sky Crane Helicopters continued making water drops in the high winds to assist ground crews.  The Gladiator Fire moved North and Northwest today.  The first part of the day was spent trying to keep if from going down into Bear Creek on the North Side.  Around noon it reached the bottom of Bear Creek and started climbing up the other side. The main focus on air operations today were on the west flank where the fire is most active.

It doesn’t appear that any structures burned today which goes to show how hard the fire crews are working.  As an update on the three injured fire fighters, two suffered dehydration and one has suffered burns.  All reports indicate that they are recovering.

There is another meeting for the community tonight at 6pm at the Mayer High School.  All interested parties are invited to attend.

We will have another update for you in the coming hours and are working on the topo map with fire lines of the Gladiator Fire.  Look for an update in the next few hours.

Remember, we welcome your comments, and feel free to like our posts on facebook. Thanks for all the support for the Crown King community.  Also, we are still planning on holding our annual charity event “Wine In The Pines” on June 9th.  Please visit www.wineinthepinesaz.com for more info.