REPORT
The situation continues to improve. The fire team stationed on Mt.
Hopkins has not started a backfire on the east face of Mt. Hopkins
and it does not appear that they will have to. They are deciding
today if they can cut a fire break south from Jack Mt. to the dozer
track at the edge of the Wilderness.
Since Saturday's large thunderstorm, there has been no rain on the
mountain. We had nearly-dry cloud buildups on Sunday. This
weather should continue until we get the fully developed monsoon on
Thursday or Friday.
The level 1 team that is now managing the fire is predicting that
they will be able to pass management of the fire to a level 3 team by
Wednesday or Thursday.
So long as the fire team is on the mountain 24 hours a day with heavy
equipment, they do not want to fully open the ridge and summit for
routine operations. If they are not lighting fires below Mt. Hopkins,
limited access should be available on Tuesday. I will not know if we
will have access until about 6:30 AM 7/19/05.
Trevor, Steve, Emilio, and Dennis watched the lighting of a back fire
near Bog Springs in Madera Canyon from the microwave site. The
photo below shows this back fire.
PHOTOS:
