Hoot Owl Fire
On Sunday May 5th, Walker Fire was dispatched to a wildfire on Hoot Owl Rd which could be described as being between Potato Patch and Mountain Pine Acres. The fire was only about 1/2 an acre but was made complex by the steepness of the terrain, the extent to which there was a combination of dead and down and stacked wood piles inside the fire line, the close proximity of a house, the even closer proximity of an out-building of sorts, the incredibly thick over-grown forest, the inability for every vehicle to get to the scene (road condition, steepness and narrowness) and that the road was very narrow and appeared to dead end.
Walker Engine 86 was first on scene and assumed command of the incident. Other Walker vehicles participating were Patrol 85, Patrol 80. Patrol 84, Tender 81 and Rescue 81 (in case someone got hurt). In all there were 13 firefighters from Walker. Additionally we had outside help from a Forest Service engine, a Forest Service command vehicle, a Type 6 engine from Groom Greek, a Water Tender from Groom Creek and a command vehicle from AZ State Forestry Division.
This may seem like a large response for a half acre and it was but we would rather have too many than too few especially during the fire season.
Tactically, Engine 86 and the Forest Service engine were positioned for the most direct attack. The water tenders could not get to the scene because of the road so Patrol 85 shuttled water from the water tenders staging area up to the incident to refill the engines. The crews from Patrols 84 and 80 constructed the fire line along with Forest Service and Groom Creek personnel.
We will be revisiting the site over the next couple of days to make sure nothing pops back up.
Here are a couple of pictures from the fire: