Freak lightning storm ignites fires in Arizona

17 fires burning, none of them under control

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (RWN) - A storm that pushed through Arizona over the last two days has left nearly 20 fires burning in the national forests and is stretching fire crews to their limits.

The system came off the Pacific as a low-pressure system and then ran into a high-pressure ridge that had come in from the Baja California area. The resulting disturbance caused what fire managers are calling "a lightning bust."

"We measured more than 4,000 downstrokes of lightning in about eight hours," said Keith McCool, director of Arizona's fire response system. "Any time it gets over 400, we get worried, and when it tops 1,000, we start getting frantic."

The state has called up its Community Guard units and has activated every firefighter in Arizona. The state's governor, Salman Henderson, asked for help from the national government, but was told that there is nothing that could be done.

"They said they were tapped out, that for budgetary reasons we would need to do this ourselves," Henderson said, clearly frustrated. "President Kingsley said he was very sorry to see the forests burn."

State officials were offered assistance by the Mexican Empire, which has 1,000 of its bomberos, teams of elite firefighters. But a member of Henderson's staff said the president asked the governor to turn the offer down "since it would be embarrassing to this government." Kingsley's office could not be reached for comment.

The most serious of the fires is the 14,000-acre Allah's Garden fire, burning near the town of Sedona. The fire is burning in Oak Creek Canyon, a popular tourist and vacation destination.

"The canyon can act as a chimney," McCool said. "If wind blows up it or down it, it will sweep the fire into the communities at either end." Mandatory evacuations of both Sedona and Flagstaff have been ordered.

Another fire, the 10,000-acre Evergreen fire, is burning in desert scrub outside the Pinal Air Park, where the nation's airlines store the planes they don't need.

"I'm looking out my window and I can see this dull orange glow over the next rise," said Abdul Moncrief, the airpark's manager. "I don't know how long I'm going to stay, since no airplane is worth leaving a family without a father."

The weather is supposed to be hot and windy for the next week.



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