From looking at it videos it appears a manageable fire when Sedona Fire arrived on Scene. They arrived on scene with a fire engine that is capable of putting out fires without assistance or hydrant. It also has pumps and filters to be able to draw from a creek or lake. The fire fighters sat in the truck. They did not immediately deploy, or apparently deploy at all.

Sedona fire gets US Forest reimbursement and lots of double overtime once the fire becomes a US forest service problem.

Like all government, bigger is better, even fires.

Gee, it got out of control. That’s what happens to fires if you don’t put them out quickly.

Look at the videos yourself.

Additionally, the issue is not whether Kazian looked up my number or not. If he’s going to write an email, fine. But telling me he could not find my number is, as I said, ” … at best nonsensical, at worst dishonest, and in either case a credibility destroyer.”

@ Just Sayin’ — Your reading skills still need brushing up. Since the video was unclear to me I emailed the person who took it and asked for clarification. I printed his response.

Note that the subject of my original post is “Eyewitnesses tell different Slide Fire story‏” not “Warren Woodward tells different Slide Fire story”.

If I was the Chief i would of replied in an open letter like he did for all to see.

Much better to spend time writing a detailed letter of the events as they actually occurred then to go digging through a phone book looking for a guys phone number whose ego tells him he is far more important then he actually is.!!!

I agree, the video was taken by a tourist. But, Warren IS the messenger and should have seen the video for what it was. It didn’t show a single firefighter standing around. If there were even there, it didn’t show any real flames, just a whole lot of smoke. Warren is making some very inflammatory statements with nothing to back them up.

One other point, HUH. The photo pictured in your posting is not a water sprayer truck like you’re asserting, that is a bulk water truck. Perhaps you should focus.
I believe that it’s used for storing water and when needed, quickly takes it from point A to point B and dumping it as a water supply. It shows in your picture to be filling something, it’s not spraying it. Even the simplest minded person knows that just because a big truck is red doesn’t mean that it really a “fire truck” there are many different types of trucks used to help, in some way put fire out. They don’t all spray water.

The quotes you are referring to are from the tourist who shot the video, not the writer. Focus.

Just sayin’……

You do bring up a good point. Where was our water sprayer truck in all this? The SFD is specially trained in wildfire. Shooting water into the area from the road would have helped while it was smaller. So where was the water sprayer truck?

http://www.sedonafire.org/what_wildland.php

Do we store it in the canyon in that little garage(station 7?) or at Station 5? One would assume these would be the best strategic locations during our ongoing drought in the middle of the dry forest.

Anybody care to comment?

@Peter
Doesn’t remaining anonymous reduce this alleged person of credibility to the level of the numerous others who use Sedona Eye as a mask for their own personal agendas?

No, it does not.
Most people who are commenting anonymously are current on events but Sedona citizens have a record of judging and killing the messengers. All the while not really participating themselves, armchair activists. So opposite of what this town markets itself as.

@Peter — You ask why someone would want to remain anonymous? Lots of reasons but mainly the hassle I’d think. Shooting messengers is good sport. You ask if it reduces his credibility. Perhaps, but that’s for each to decide. For me, it does not reduce it as much as someone who BS’s me about my phone number.

I first want to thank Fire Chief Kris Kazian for keeping us all updated, and taking his precious time to respond to yet another one of Woodward’s nonsensical emails. Call Me crazy but during an emergency like a fire in the canyon I would tend to rely on the training, experience, expertise and prior coordination with other agencies that Chief Kazian has, then with some guy from somewhere who once operated a tanker truck hose in some other country.

When Woodward says to Chief Kazian ‘Neither you nor I were there.’ I would tend to believe the Chief who had professionals fill Him in when He did arrive vs. hearsay speculations from somebody’s friend, that Woodward got, who never was there.

I thought from Woodward’s link I would see a bunch of firemen standing around, but instead there is smoke, fire and gusting winds way down in the canyon with a tourist statement saying ‘Firefighters showed up quickly and realized they would not be able to get manpower into the canyon to fight the fire from the ground. We were advised that the canyon would likely be evacuated shortly so aerial crews could come in and begin battling the fire.’

This comment could go on and on, but I’ld rather close it saying, some people Do, while others sit in their easy chair and criticize in hopes of becoming an armchair hero.

Wow Warren. I watched your “friends neighbor’s” video and know almost the exact area that the video was taken. I’m just wondering how any fire fighter would have been able to pull those big heavy hoses down a crazy steep incline, without falling or killing him/her self? Unless the fire was within a safe reach of the road or one of those water sprayers type trucks, I don’t see how any fire person would have been able to put it out like you say. From watching the video, aside from the fire being a good distance down the incline and away from the road, with that much smoke, the fire must have been huge by that time.

Why don’t you take pot shots at something that you know about, like those smart meters. After reading your rants to our fire chief, I’m thinking that you don’t know as much as you say you do. I’m guessing you just like blowing SMOKE up people butts.

In your letter to the fire chief you say:

“I am not a firefighter and have no insight into the type of equipment the local department has at their disposal. I also am not from Arizona and I’m not overly familiar with the lay of the land in Oak Creek Canyon, sources of water nearby, nor standard forest fire fighting protocol”. (sounds like an awful lot of NOTS to me)

and then you say:

“That being said, I have been saying since the first night of the fire, that I cannot understand why they were not hitting the fire in its infancy from highway 89A with some sort of water cannon or high pressure hose while still very small. In my layman opinion water could have been supplied first from a tanker which I believe nearly every fire department to possess…

So if you don’t know what you’re talking about, why don’t you ask someone who does instead of talking out of your butt and trying to make yourself sound like you know that you’re talking about.

Oh and BTW, with all of your knowledge of Smart Meters, maybe one of those suckers were installed in the canyon and started the darn fire.

Just Sayin’

Having reviewed all videos provided in the lengthy exchange w/Fire Chief Kris Kazian, how could anyone dispute manner in which the fire was combated? Even the printed captions from “Fantastic Falcon Voyage” emphasizing increasing high winds suggest a handful of firemen standing idly by wouldn’t have had a chance to extinguish the blaze at the rate it was moving.

It’s stated “I’ll add that, while I do not know the eyewitness personally, I do know who he is. He holds a position of responsibility and authority in Sedona. To me, he is credible.” Why would a person holding “A position of responsibility and authority in Sedona” be unwilling to remain unidentified? Doesn’t remaining anonymous reduce this alleged person of credibility to the level of the numerous others who use Sedona Eye as a mask for their own personal agendas?

Anyways, thank you very much for the amazing videos and on the scene insight. Watching the real deal most assuredly has added to the credibility of our “hero” firefighters as well as the other writings previously offered on Sedona Eye explaining methods by which skilled professionals are trained to deal with emergency situations.