07:23 PM MST on Sunday, July 4, 2004

By Mitch Tobin / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

The Nuttall and Gibson Fires atop Mount Graham have spread to 9,344 acres and are expected to eventually merge, the incident's commander said Sunday.

Flames are still about three-quarters of a mile from the telescope complex atop Mount Graham — the same distance officials reported Saturday night.

"An immediate threat is there right now," incident commander Dan Oltrogge said in a noon telephone interview. "Whether or not we'll be successful is still definitely in question."

The current suppression strategy calls for keeping the two fires on the north side of the Pinaleno Mountains and allowing them to burn downhill into sparse desert vegetation. That could result in a fire that reaches 54,000 acres, Oltrogge said.

"The only thing that will put this fire out is the weather and the lack of fuel as it moves down into the desert," Oltrogge said.

"It is the safest way we know to approach this fire," added Pruitt Small, the fire's operations section chief.

Firefighters hope to use ridgelines and existing dirt roads to stop the fire from moving south, up and over the spine of the Pinaleno Mountains, 75 miles northeast of Tucson. A bulldozer has also blazed a fuel break in the vicinity of the telescopes.

Most of the growth in the past day has been on the Gibson Fire, which has now charred 4,090 acres. The Nuttall Fire has burned 5,254 acres. Lightning strikes ignited both fires.

Federal officials this morning listed 25 homes, 10 commercial buildings and 2 outbuildings as threatened. Many of the at-risk structures are near the Columbine Work Center, where firefighters have been camping. Oltrogge said Columbine "will be in dire straits in the near future," but the Turkey Flat area, site of many private cabins, isn't immediately threatened.

Fire crews, including 19 "hotshots," returned to the field to battle the blazes Sunday morning after being pulled off Saturday due to extreme fire behavior.

Firefighters are trying to thin along Arizona 366, also known as the Swift Trail, so that it can be used as a fuel break, just as Mount Lemmon Highway was employed in 2002 and 2003 during wildfires in the Santa Catalinas. In places where the road curves, bulldozers are being used to cut corners and clear fuel, Oltrogge said.

Crews were also planning to burn fuel along Forest Road 507, which runs south from Mount Graham to the Swift Trail.

Sprinklers have been turned on at the 8.6-acre observatory site, which includes the University of Arizona's $110 million Large Binocular Telescope and two smaller, already- completed instruments. The LBT is expected to become the world's most powerful observatory when it is completed, perhaps in 2007.

There are nearly 900 people assigned to the blaze, which is being overseen by one of the Southwest region's two type I management teams.

Among the resources fighting the fires, known collectively as the Nuttall Complex:

— 19 elite type I or "hotshot" crews, each with about 20 firefighters

— 5 type II crews

— 16 fire engines

— 11 helicopters

— 7 water tenders

— Up to 4 military C-130 air tankers

In total, the Nuttall Complex is 5 percent contained, meaning 1/20th of their perimeter isn't at risk of expanding.

The Gibson Fire, which began June 22, was just to the east of Mount Graham and the telescope complex, burning at around 10,000 feet elevation. The area is at the heart of critical habitat for the Mount Graham red squirrel and consists of old-growth spruce-fir forests at the highest elevations and mixed conifer forests lower down.

The squirrel is an endangered species found nowhere else in the world. The rodent was at the center of environmentalists' failed bid in the 1980s and 1990s to stop construction of the telescopes.

The Nuttall Fire, which started June 26, is about three miles to the northwest and has generally burned below 9,000 feet elevation, through a mixture of heavy brush, ponderosa pines and mixed conifer forests. Just two days ago, the two fires were reported to be six miles apart. This morning, federal officials said the plumes coming off each fire were drawing the blazes toward one another, though it wasn't clear when they would merge.

The National Weather Service is predicting a difficult day for firefighters, with sustained winds in the Safford area forecast at 10 mph to 20 mph. Afternoon gusts are expected to reach 30 mph. Highs at the base of the mountain are forecast to be in the mid 90s, with temperatures near the summit of Mount Graham some 20 degrees cooler.

"It's hot and dry, and any little bit of wind will cause you more problems," Oltrogge said.

However, the weather service said this morning that conditions probably won't warrant a "red flag warning," which alerts crews to the potential for dangerous fire behavior due to hot, dry, windy weather.

The fire has been burning through forests plagued by insect outbreaks and a long-term drought. Flames have at times jumped from treetop to treetop in a devastating crown fire, while airborne embers were being pitched ahead of the main blaze to start spot fires, according to the government's Southwest Coordination Center in Albuquerque.

The Gibson Fire became "plume-dominated" Saturday afternoon, meaning that rising heat generated a distinct column that sucked air into it and had the potential to come crashing down on the blaze, similar to the violent downdrafts put out by a monsoon thunderstorm.

Crews continue to hold the western flank of the fire, but they were pulled off the eastern edge Saturday because their only escape route — the Swift Trail — was threatened by flames.

Firefighters were also working to protect the communications towers atop 10,022-foot Heliograph Peak, about 3 miles southeast of the Gibson Fire.

The Nuttall Complex has so far cost $2.9 million, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.