Over the past five days, the fire has continued to burn, although it is pretty effectively contained. The fire teams have been going into the secluded holdings at the base of the Stronghold, clearing out accumulated dry plant litter, setting up water pumpkins (big orange bags with upwards of 500 gallons of water) plumbed to gas powered pumps and arrays of sprays covering structures, etc. They are set up for the last guy out to start up the pumps and run.
I haven't been reporting because things have settled down into a steady state of them watching the fire and knocking it down when it gets excessive. We regained access to Dragoon road on Wednesday. It passes up through the center of the affected pass, and is our preferred route to I-10 when traveling West to Benson, Sierra Vista, and Tucson. It gives access to views of bared and blackened slopes, vast swaths of red air delivered fire retardant, and many properties demarked with 'for sale by owner' signs. There are rock formations that have probably not been seen except for up close for the past fifty to seventy years. There's also a lot of ask blowing around. When teh Monsoon rains finally come in the next week or two, the fires will finally end, and there will be a booming bloom of green growth.
But those 'for sale' folks have had enough, and they want out.
I'm not in the threatened zone, and I'm not going anywhere. As for staying packed and standing by, life goes on, and has already been derailed for far longer than is reasonable. As for the humidity, it's normal for the fire season, hovering at around betwen 2% and 5%. That's why the silence for five days; we had to get caught back up. Last time we packed, we got nearly everything wrong. Now, there's very little left to burn, and I think the folks who want out have a right, but it's more a matter of them closing the barn door after the horse is already gone. Either way, I wish them good luck, and am thinking that maybe they didn't have the constitution and/or motivations to live out here in the first place. Fair weather friends, maybe.
There's a lot of folks who see this place as quaint and charming, and maybe should be turned into something more like where they came from. I may have been one myself but I'm not one now. I left that kind of situation for this one, a better one; and I'm not in any mood for silly hugger bugger propositions. If they want a place like where they came from, better they return. This place is breathtaking, but it's also harsh and demanding. When things are good, they're great. When they're not so good, a lot of folks are tending to break and run. I won't be the last one out, but I also won't be that far ahead of them, either.
Anyhoo, we're still here, not going anywhere, and the fire still simmers on. Our home is roofed with concrete mission tile and the outside is stucco. Not fireproof, but fairly resistant. I didn't have fire season in mind when I agreed to buy it, but there's always been that slight trace of prepper in me, at least enough so that I'm not aiming to live in a firetrap in the middle of the desert. There are enough concerns about a desert lifestyle without throwing in an unhealthy helping of carelessness.
Greg
