Everything about The Rodeo-chediski Fire totally explained
The
Rodeo-Chediski fire was a
wildfire that burned in east-central
Arizona beginning on
June 18,
2002, and wasn't controlled until
July 7. It was the worst forest fire in Arizona to date, consuming 467,066 acres (1,890.15 km²) of woodland. Several local communities, including
Show Low,
Pinetop-Lakeside, and
Heber-Overgaard, were threatened and had to be evacuated.
Initially there were two separate fires. The first fire, the Rodeo fire, was reported on the afternoon of
June 18 near the Rodeo Fairgrounds on the
Fort Apache Indian Reservation. An
arsonist was arrested on
June 29 and was later charged. By early evening, around 1,200 acres (5 km²) were ablaze. Increasing wind speeds fed the fire to over 2,000 acres (8 km²) by the following morning, and when wind speeds increased to around 25 mph (40 km/h) the fire grew rapidly — increasing fourfold over the next three hours.
The Chediski fire was first reported on the morning of
June 20 near
Chediski Peak northwest of
Cibecue. It had been started by a stranded
motorist,Valinda Jo Elliott, trying to signal a news
helicopter. Her car had run out of gas two days earlier, and she'd been wandering on foot trying to find
cellphone reception. Similarly fed by the strong winds, this fire spread to 2,000 acres (8 km²) by mid-afternoon, and by the following morning it covered over 14,000 acres (57 km²).
By
June 21 the Rodeo fire had consumed around 150,000 acres (600 km²). Around 8,000 people were evacuated; by the end of the fire, around 30,000 people would be moved. The two burning areas approached through crosswinds over
June 21 and
June 22 as a further 11,000 people were ordered to leave their homes. The burning areas joined on
June 23 having consumed around 300,000 acres (1,200 km²) of woodland. The fire's progress slowed after the two merged and by
June 26 the fire was 5% contained by
backburning, cutting and slurry — protecting the settlements of
Clay Springs,
Linden and
Pinedale, but 460,000 acres (1,900 km²) had burned. The fire was 28% contained by
June 28, but it wasn't fully under control until
July 7 at a cost of about $50 million. About 400 homes were destroyed in Pinedale and other small communities. The fire was declared a
disaster area.
Of the
woodlands destroyed, 280,992 acres (1,137.1 km²) was part of the
Fort Apache Indian Reservation. Of the rest, 167,215 acres (676.7 km²) was destroyed in the
Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest and 10,667 acres (43.17 km²) in the
Tonto National Forest. The remaining destruction occurred on private land.
After the fire efforts were made to stabilize the landscape by
Burned Area Emergency Response teams.
Water bars, s and
K-rails were put in place and there were over two weeks of aerial seeding, dropping around 5 million pounds (2,300
metric tons) of winter wheat or indigenous grass seeds over 180,000 acres (730 km²).
Political figures, including Senator
Jon Kyl of Arizona, blamed the fire on "radical
environmentalists" and their opposition to logging to "thin" the forests.
(External Link
) The
Sierra Club responded by saying they've long supported the thinning of underbrush and small trees through
controlled burns, not the
logging of large trees.
(External Link) But this fire, among other devastating drought-year fires in the
American West, helped propel new forest management laws, enacted by both the
U.S. Congress and local authorities. Of these the most notable is the
Healthy Forests Restoration Act, which President
George W. Bush signed into law in 2003. Although these policies presented high-profile, short-term solutions, the
ecological effects of these policies are hotly debated among forestry experts.
The arsonist, who received a 10-year prison sentence in March 2004, was Leonard Gregg, a Cibecue resident who worked as a seasonal firefighter for the tribal fire department. He told investigators he'd set two fires that morning (the first was quickly put out) in hopes of getting hired by the federal
Bureau of Indian Affairs for a quick-response fire crew. Gregg had previously worked as a BIA fire crew member, and was indeed among the first to be called in to fight the Rodeo Fire.
The stranded motorist, Valinda Jo Elliott, who started the Chediski portion of the fire wasn't charged with arson by the US Attorney's office, much to the chagrin of local residents.
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