NewsMine — nature-health — environment — forests — Viewing Item

Arizona wild fires { June 22 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/national/22FIRE.html http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/22/national/22FIRE.html June 22, 2003 In Arizona, Fire Spares a Few Spots From Its Ruin By NICK MADIGAN TUCSON, June 21 — The news that the wildly destructive Aspen Fire had spared at least some houses on once-bucolic Mount Lemmon made for a rare moment of relief in an otherwise devastating week. "Helen, your cabin looks beautiful, honey," Ray Carroll, a Pima County supervisor, told Helen Forrester, 79, in a packed school auditorium here on Friday after he had managed to make a trip earlier that day to what was left of the mountain town of Summerhaven, where more than 250 homes and businesses were consumed by fire the previous day. Mrs. Forrester, who bought her house in 1958, gasped. Her daughter Claudia Pordes, who flew in from San Francisco when she heard that the family's home was in danger, choked back tears. "We came here not knowing if we had a place," Ms. Pordes said after the gathering. "We had resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd lost it, like losing a part of yourself. It's our piece of heaven." The Aspen Fire, named after an old hiking trail near which it was thought to have begun on Tuesday, has consumed at least 6,300 acres of dense woods and brush in the Coronado National Forest. There are more than 600 firefighters and a fleet of aircraft involved in fighting the fire, and 300 more firefighters were on their way to the area today. Firefighters managed to save about 50 other residences in Soldier's Camp, a subdivision southwest of Summerhaven, that were threatened by the fire as it spread, The Associated Press reported tonight. The fire crossed a ridge arrayed with radio and telecommunications towers. The residents of Summerhaven and nearby Loma Linda who gathered on Friday evening were told that landmarks like the Alpine Lodge hotel and the post office had been destroyed, as well as some hiking trails. The one-room schoolhouse had been singed but was still standing. "The real concern in this audience is whether we have anything left, and all I'm hearing is bureaucracy-speak," said Chuck Autrey, who already knew from a firefighter acquaintance that his home and his business, the Summerhaven Coffee House, had been destroyed. The authorities said there was no way to survey property damage while the fire still raged elsewhere, citing the dangers of falling trees, wrecked homes, cars and equipment, and other hazardous debris. "It's not a safe environment up there," said Larry Humphrey, an incident commander with the Tucson Fire Department. "Right now we've got a reburn potential. We're not going to let someone in there and have them get killed." A Summerhaven resident at the meeting, citing the slow pace of local bureaucracy, received a standing ovation when he urged Pima County to establish a fast-track system for issuing permits to rebuild homes. Mr. Carroll, the county supervisor, tried to keep things positive for at least some of those in the audience. "Your house looks pretty good, too," he told one homeowner in the audience. "Although you don't have any neighbors anymore." Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | Help | Back to Top

belize Apes jungles { September 4 2002 } Apes will be extinct in a generation { September 1 2005 } Arizona wild fires { June 22 2003 } Arnolds epa pick critical bush healthy forest initiative { November 14 2003 } Arson suspected in most of 10 fires { October 29 2003 } Burning [jpg] Bush says kindling causes forest fires { December 3 2003 } Bush seeks shifts in logging rules { July 13 2004 } Bush to gut roadless rule { June 10 2003 } Cattle grazing causing more extensive rainforest damage { October 21 2005 } Deforestation paves way in brazil { January 8 2005 } Denies natural cycles { May 24 2003 } Ease logging { August 22 2002 } Ethanol will destroy rainforests Excuse to log { June 19 2003 } Federal judge overturns roadless ban Forests pay the price for biofuels Governor says roadless unlawful { August 20 2003 } House passes bill to speed post fire timber sales { May 18 2006 } House passes forest thinning bill { May 20 2003 } In the line of fire Judge roadless accused ethics violation Jungles disappear 30yrs Logging forest fires New forest rules help loggers { December 23 2004 } Non burned undergrowth threat People use 83pc { October 23 2002 } Rainforest destruction { June 25 2001 } Roadless plan upheld San bernardino wild fires { October 26 2003 } Smokey bear revamps fire message Smokey the bear was wrong { August 21 2000 } Wild fires then ice storms { November 14 2003 } Files Listed: 33

Correction/submissions

CIA FOIA Archive

National Security Archives

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information, go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purpose of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.