Wildfire — Western Mogollon Rim, Arizona

2010-06-20 to 2010-06-30 · Western Mogollon Rim, Arizona

Event narrative

The Schultz Fire was started by an abandon campfire. Wind enhanced by topography and steep slopes on the eastern side of the San Francisco Peaks (also known as Kachina Peaks) greatly enhanced the spread and severity of the fire. Highway 89 was closed because of the fire. A Type I Incident Management Team was called to organize fire fighting efforts. Close to one thousand people were called out to fight this fire. Fire fighting equipment included 8 air tankers, 7 helicopters, 62 fire engines, and 13 water tenders. Firefighting efforts alone cost around $10 million dollars. No homes or buildings were damaged by fire. However, flooding and debris flows that resulted from the fire damaged landscape caused damage to close to 100 properties and homes once the rainy season started in July and lasted through August.

Wider weather episode

The Schultz Fire started on June 20th as a result of an abandoned campfire. The fire started just east of Schultz Tank...about 10 miles north-northeast of the Flagstaff Pulliam Airport. Strong winds driven by local topography pushed the fire to the northeast. The fire grew to 15,075 acres. Most of the residences west of Highway 89 were evacuated. No homes or buildings were damaged in the fire. The fire was contained by midnight on June 30th. Some smoke was still seen in the interior of the fire for close to 3 weeks after containment. About 5000 acres within the fire area were in the high severity category of burning which lead to frequent flooding down hill and downstream once the rainy season started in mid July.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 238351. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.