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Tunnel Fire GO Order Evacuations In Effect

Flagstaff AZ – On April 19, 2022, at 1100 hours the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office began evacuation operations in the Timberline and Fernwood areas, north of Flagstaff along Hwy 89.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office was advised by the United States Forest Service at approximately 8:00 a.m. that the Tunnel Fire had jumped the fire line and was threatening the Timberline – Fernwood Area. The Sheriff’s Office began preparation in anticipation of a “GO” order from the Forest Service.

At approximately 11:00 a.m. a “GO “order was given, and evacuations began: Over 200 hundred homes are threatened at this time. Closure areas are East side of 89 is Campbell Road to Sunset Crater and the West side of the Highway 89 is Summit Fire Station #33 to Sunset Crater.

A shelter is set up at Sinagua Middle School for those effected by the evacuations. The Coconino Humane Society is available for evacuated large and small animals.

We will update as information is made available.

If you are unsure about an evacuation notice or feel it maybe a scam, please contact your local law enforcement agency to confirm the location of any Evacuation stage or Set stage areas, please call the non-emergency numbers for the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office (928) 774-4523 and Flagstaff Police Department (928) 774-4114 and report any suspicious calls.

If you receive what you believe to be a fraudulent call to evacuate or any other suspicious call, it is important to provide as much information as possible when reporting this activity.

This includes not only phone numbers from which calls are received, but also names (even if names appear to be fake), email addresses, web domains, times/dates of contacts, and otherwise.

Stay aware out there!

14 Comments

  1. Jim DeWittl says:

    On Thursday, April 21st, from 12:30pm to 3:00pm, the Flagstaff Family Food Center will be providing water and food to anyone affected by the Tunnel Fire. This temporary distribution site will be held in The Guidance Center parking lot located at 2187 N Vickey St, Flagstaff, AZ 86004.
    Signage and volunteers will be on site to direct traffic.
    Donations of water, electrolytes, protein, canned goods, and other non-perishable items should be taken to the food bank warehouse at 3805 East Huntington Drive, Flagstaff, AZ 86004.
    More information is available by contacting the Flagstaff Family Food Center at 928-526-2211 or Email info@hotfood.org or by visiting the Website: hotfood.org.

  2. Amy says:

    Anyone interested in helping those impacted by the Tunnel Fire should contact the United Way by texting UWNAZRESPONSE to 41444.

  3. Lambertson says:

    We’ve been hearing that this fire tragedy could have been averted.

  4. @Lambertson says:

    Well guess you dont live here? Winds at 30 mph, gusts at 50 mph? Takes days to get hot shots in place with a plan?

    I find it amazing people need someone to blame but dont even pay attention to the weather that helped feed this fire at record pace!

    I guess we can always do more right? Hire hundreds of fire fighters to stand around waiting for a fire to break out? You do also know this is the earliest fire season so far!

  5. GJC says:

    Tourists caused our last huge fire here and could have wiped out city and more than the canyon. Tourists build fires they don’t know how to tend and where they shouldn’t be. They’re careless and ignorant. Close our parks during fire season and no camping.

  6. @gjc says:

    That sounds extreme but it’s what needs to get done by agencies without gumption and gets bonus points from tourism. Greed burns down many of our forests, stupid burns down the rest.

  7. Herb, Sedona says:

    news said crater burned then wasn’t bad like said ——get -fire – OUT

  8. May 2, 2022 Update says:

    Beginning 8 a.m. Thursday, May 5 Stage 1 fire and smoking restrictions will be in effect on the entirety of the Coconino National Forest and both the Williams and Tusayan Districts (aka “South Zone”) of the Kaibab National Forest.

    Under Stage 1 restrictions, fires, campfires, charcoal, coal, and wood stoves are prohibited, except within a developed recreation site. Smoking is also prohibited, except within an enclosed vehicle, building or a developed recreation site. Fireworks are always prohibited on all national forest and state lands.

  9. Tunnel Fire May 3 Update says:

    Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) specialists recently completed their field data evaluation to produce the Soil Burn Severity (SBS) map for the approximately 19,075-acre Tunnel Fire.

    The map (click to enlarge) and the data delineate unburned, low, moderate and high SBS categories. The BAER team assessing the Tunnel Fire determined that approximately 4,774 acres (24%) of the fire is unburned, approximately 12,285 acres (67%) have low SBS, approximately 1,421 acres (8%) sustained a moderate SBS and only approximately 11 acres (<1%) were identified as having high soil burn severity.

    The SBS map product is an estimate of fire effects to soils, not fire effects to vegetation. SBS characterizes fire effects to the soil surface and below ground. Fire effects to vegetation would include an estimate of vegetation mortality which does not always correlate with degree of soil burn severity.

    Moderate and high soil burn severity can alter or damage physical, chemical, and biological soil properties resulting in increased runoff, erosion, and negative effects to soil productivity. These soil properties include but are not limited to hydrophobicity (water repellency), soil organic matter content, soil pore space, soil cover (effective litter), and soil structure (including grade (degree of aggregation) and type (physical form).

    Changes to these soil properties determine the degree of soil burn severity. Water repellency often occurs naturally in soils, and it changes as a function of fire. It is frequently discussed as a post-fire effect. Fire can increase the strength and thickness—or depth—of water repellent layers in soil, considerably affecting post-fire water runoff and possibly extending time for recovery of the burned area.

    The Tunnel BAER assessment team used remote sensing imagery with field-validated soils data to produce the final SBS map. The BAER team will use the SBS map as an analysis tool to estimate post-fire erosion with subsequent sediment delivery, stream flows and debris flow probabilities. The map is also being shared with cooperating agencies.

    The Tunnel Fire soil burn severity map can be downloaded at the “Tunnel Fire BAER” InciWeb site (https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8088/) as a JPEG or PDF version under the “Maps” tab.

    As a reminder, The Coconino National Forest has instituted a Forest Closure Order for the area affected by the Tunnel Fire.

    BAER SAFETY MESSAGE: Everyone near and downstream from the burned areas should remain alert and stay updated on weather conditions that may result in heavy rains and increased water runoff. Flash flooding may occur quickly during heavy rain events-be prepared to act. Current weather and emergency notifications can be found at the National Weather Service website: https://www.weather.gov/fgz/

  10. May 4 Update says:

    Tunnel Fire burning near Flagstaff now 95% contained – Crews have made substantial progress on the Tunnel Fire, which is burning northeast of Flagstaff. The wildfire has burned over 19,000 acres, but it is now 95% contained.

  11. Phaedra, Flagstaff says:

    a catastrophe human caused

  12. Kudzu Dry Creek says:

    no more fires – go and stay home and stop ruining Arizona!!!!!!!!!!!

  13. Tunnel Fire Burn Report Update says:

    Corrected Soil Burn Severity Acres
    Tunnel Fire BAER Burned Area Emergency Response
    Announcements – 5/4/2022
    The acreage for Soil Burn Severity SBS) categories in the May 3rd release are incorrect. The following are the corrected acres and percent of the fire by SBS class. Approximately 4,775 acres (25%) are unburned, approximately 12,800 (67%) have low SBS, approximately 1,474 acres (8%) sustained a moderate SBS and approximately 11 acres (less than 1%) were identified as having high SBS. The published map has not changed and is correct.

  14. Blair says:

    Wild fires are bad news do more prevention pieces

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