Careless campers, partiers keep fire crews hopping

Glen Creno

People may be the most dangerous animals in Arizona's forests and deserts this time of year.

Campers, partiers and people on all-terrain vehicles can all be responsible for wildfires. They often don't know they've been responsible for fires that can cost thousands of dollars to put out and cause damage that takes years to heal.

"Our main concern is, there have been several fires in the last few days that have been abandoned campfires," said Connie Birkland, spokeswoman for the Coconino National Forest in Flagstaff. "Either folks are unaware of what it takes to be sure a campfire is completely out, or they don't care."

Fire officials say humans are to blame for most fires at this point in the fire season, since there have been few lighting storms. Fire crews put out four human-caused wildfires around Flagstaff last week.

Two were put out immediately and two others - one south of the city and one north - spread quickly. Concentrated attacks by hotshot crews contained one to 5 acres and the other to 6. Birkland said one of the blazes was triggered by an abandoned campfire.

As of late last week, the Coronado National Forest in southern Arizona had seen 31 wildfires this year. All were caused by people, including the Horseshoe Fire, which is so far Arizona's biggest and most expensive of the year.

As of Friday, $7.84 million had been spent fighting the Horseshoe blaze. No specific cause had been determined, although lightning has been ruled out. The estimated containment date is July 10.

At one time, more than 800 people were fighting the fire, which threatened world-renowned bird-watching territory in the southeastern

Arizona wilderness near Chiricahua National Monument and the New Mexico line.

The fire is in steep, rugged terrain that is difficult for firefighters to reach. It required a sustained air attack by tankers and helicopters.

The cost of one tanker drop is $10,000, according to Heidi Schewel, a Coronado spokeswoman based in Tucson.

Schewel acknowledged that "border activity" - illegal immigration or other events - accounts for some fires in the Coronado. But she also ran down a long list of other ways people set off forest fires, including target shooting, warming fires, cooking fires and fireworks.

"People leave fires unattended for whatever reasons," she said. "Campers may go for a hike and leave a fire burning. Partiers may just go, do whatever it is they are doing."

The Arizona monsoon season starts Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. That means more lightning storms moving into the state, likely adding to the workload of firefighters scrambling to handle human-caused blazes.

Some federal agencies already are limiting fires on their public lands.

Fire restrictions are in effect in the Tonto National Forest and some Bureau of Land Management territory.

Dolores Garcia, spokeswoman for the BLM in Phoenix, said wildfires are especially damaging in the desert, a habitat not adapted to handle fire. Some amount of fire is good for forests, and some accidental starts are allowed to burn under careful management to destroy dense underbrush.

Garcia said drivers sometimes unknowingly start fires. She said a few years ago, a semitruck dragging a loose chain set a series of roadside fires on Interstate 17 between Phoenix and Flagstaff.

Drivers pulling off the road onto a grassy median or shoulder can start fires. A hot flat tire can set off a blaze if it is parked in the wrong place.

"It's not only our campfires," Garcia said. "Roadside fires are just as common as well. . . . You're in your car in the air-conditioning, and you don't think about it."

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Source: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2010/06/13/20100613arizona-fires-campers.html

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