Crown King Gladiator Update – Day 4 Update 3

There was another community meeting this evening at 6pm in Mayer at the High School regarding the Gladiator Fire in Crown King, AZ.  Today was a big day for the fire and it gained significant acreage.  The Gladiator Fire was measured last night at 1700 acres and grew quickly in the high winds and near record heat.  The current estimates put it at 5400 acres.  The fire gained the majority of it’s ground on the North side which currently is not being attacked from the air or ground as no structures are in it’s path.  The plan is to let the North side burn to the point that it hits the lower elevations with more sporadic fuel sources and burns itself out.  This is letting the fire crews focus on the more dangerous Western front of the fire.  The western side of the Gladiator Fire is the side that is in danger of flanking around behind Crown King and getting pushed by the winds back into town. The Southeast side of the fire isn’t being attacked either, but is burning in the area that was burned in 2008 during the Lane 2 fire and doesn’t have much fuel so is not advancing quickly.  The surprise last night was that while forest fires usually slow down as the night goes on and get less intense, last night was different.  The fire burned very hot until the 4am hour due to the dense fuel sources around Towers Mountain.  For those unfamiliar with this part of the mountain, the vegetation is full of Ponderosa Pine, Scrub Oak, Juniper, Manzanita, and Chapparal. This did not allow much down time before it picked up again in the morning.

The focus on the Western Flank is changing strategies also.  Fire crews have been fighting the fire with a “one foot in the black” strategy.  This means fighting right along side the fire lines trying to stop it, literally with one foot on burned ground and one foot on unburned ground.  In the coming days the fire crews are will be pulling off the immediate fire lines and focusing more on creating wider fire lines along the road system.  The thought on this is that when the fire gets to that line, it will run out of fuel and they will be able to keep it from jumping the wide lines with no vegetation.

As I stated earlier today, many air support resources are being used on the fire when weather allows.  For a number of hours today in the early afternoon the Air Tankers (Slurry Bombers) were either grounded or diverted to the Fire near Payson.  Around 5pm air tankers began focusing on the Gladiator Fire again and worked till the sun went down.  All day Type 1 Helicopters (Chinooks with buckets and Sky Cranes with snorkels) attacked the fire.  The helicopters are still pulling water out of Horsethief lake, but that source expected to run dry soon.  The crews have permission to pull water from Lake Pleasant, but that additional flight time makes the helicopters less successful.  Sources of water around Prescott are being sought out to use for water as well.

Power is still off on the mountain.  Each morning the incident commanders are evaluating the risk level and have yet to determine it is safe for APS to begin reinstalling power lines.  Once they are allowed to do so, it will take 24-48 hours for power to be restored.  Due to the extended period of time power has been out, the county will be providing dumpsters in Crown King for residents to dump spoiled food.

Another structure was lost today in the fire as it moved North.  On the Northeast side of the fire, it passed through a old patented mining claim and took one of the historic buildings that was used as a residence occasionally. On this side of the fire it is still burning hot and moving quickly.  It is now a few miles outside of Cleator, but is expected to run out of fuel before it gets there.

With the main road still having fire activity, efforts are being made to work on repairing Senator Highway from Prescott to allow residents to return and also provide a secondary escape route that could be used by all vehicles from Crown King in the future.  No time frames have been set for residents to return, but plans will be announced once it is safe to do so and there is no further threat of evacuation.  At first full time residents will be allowed up, after a few days all property owners will be allowed up, then after a few more days the roads will be open to the general public.  We are hoping this happens before Memorial Day Weekend.

Below is the best copy of the fire boundary map for the Gladiator fire.  The clarity is not that good so for comparison click here to go to the post with yesterday’s map.  It will open in a new window so you can compare the two maps and get your bearings.  I hope to have a more detailed map from tomorrow morning’s briefing.

We will post another update tonight with this evening’s news coverage video links and any further info.  Look for more updates throughout tomorrow.  And remember we love reading your comments at the bottom of the page and appreciate you sharing the links on facebook for your friends to read.  Thank you for your support and concern  for Crown King.