Comet fire aftermath

I went out to the location of the Comet fire on Sunday, one week after the fire. I wanted to see if there were still lots of small dust devils picking up the ash. The loose ash might have been blown away, though. On Saturday, there were storms around Tucson. Late in the afternoon, they pushed out a big gust of wind in our direction. You can see the leading edge of a dust storm moving out from a rain storm on animated radar. I could tell within a few minutes when the dust was going to hit us and went out front to get a picture.

I did some things to make the dust stand out which also made the other colors very bright.

Anyway, all that wind on Saturday might have blown the loose ash away. I saw 4 large dust devils on the way out there, and it was about 105F at Queen Creek, so I know conditions were right for dust devils. I didn't see any out there, but I think the results are inconclusive.

Humidity is creeping up. There were some low clouds.

Fire damage.

There is speculation that the Comet fire was started by target shooting. In fact, the forest service had a guy on the road stopping people and making sure they weren't planning to do any target shooting. A news reporter at the fire last week said that bullets cause sparks when they hit rocks, and that starts fires. Bullets are usually made of lead, though, and contrary to what you see from Hollywood, it's pretty darn difficult to get a spark with a piece of lead. If target shooting starts fires, I think it's because of what is used for targets (e.g. propane bottles) and the shooters' cigarettes.

Favorite targets; beer cans and propane bottles.

After watching for dust devils for a while, I drove out Hewitt Canyon road for a while to enjoy the scenery. I got out of the truck to take a few pictures, but it was too hot in the middle of the day to do much of that.

Corral and windmill

Cholla, Roblas Butte, and a cloud.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2012_06_17

The Comet fire

I left the house Saturday afternoon just planning to go for a drive. It seemed a little warm for hiking, though it was only about 100. So far, it's been pretty cool for June. Anyway, I left the house and headed east. I could see some smoke in the distance. I thought it might be coming from near Gold Canyon, but smoke always looks closer than it is. Turns out the smoke was about 20 miles away.

I was thinking about going someplace near Florence Junction, and the smoke happened to be in that direction. I decided to see if I could get within view of the fire. I've driven by a few fires in the past but have never gotten any pictures. This looked like it might be a good opportunity to get some pictures. It was away from the highway, but not too far away.

It turns out that it was just north of Comet Peak, which must be where it got its name. I've been meaning to climb Comet Peak for a few years. This would be the perfect opportunity. Usually, it would be a really bad place to go hiking because it's one of people's favorite places to shoot their guns. There's a ban on shooting guns in the desert now (fire danger) and nobody was going to be doing that with all the fire fighters out there.

I think this truck was here just to keep looky-loos from blocking access to a water tank.

I parked far away from and upwind of the fire and well off the road. I didn't want to be getting in anybody's way. The route up Comet Peak was steep with lots of loose rock. It would be exciting on the way back down. It was only about a 300 foot climb, then a short hike to get to where I had a view of the fire.

The fire was burning in the bed of Queen Creek, which is dry right now but full of trees.

Some flames are visible now and then.

My view of parts of the fire was blocked.

Looks like the fire might have started at the base of Comet Peak.

Generally, the wind was blowing the fire away from me. Of course, it was blowing all different directions around Comet Peak. I didn't want to be up there if the fire started coming my way.

Dropping fire retardant.

I stood at the top for about half an hour taking pictures. A big plane showed up and I got a video of it. I wanted to get some pictures of it in action, too, but I smelled smoke and decided it was time to leave.

I don't know what the first plane is dropping. Doesn't seem like enough of anything to have any effect.

Click below to see all of the pictures.

2012_06_09