Arizona Wildfire Evacuees Return Home

Written by Stephanie Kriner, Staff Writer, RedCross.org

July 1, 2002 — Arizona wildfire evacuees returned to their homes over the weekend to find a haphazard path of blackened landscape and burned houses. While some spots remained unscathed by the massive blaze, others were not so lucky.

As Pinedale residents discovered the most extensive damage, residents of Show Low, the area’s biggest town, found their homes and neighborhoods unharmed. The largest wildfire in Arizona’s history had come within 2,000 feet of the city’s edge.

Click here to read first-person accounts from evacuees and volunteers

By Sunday, the 463,000-acre (185,200-hectare) combined blaze had destroyed at least 423 homes. It was about 45 percent contained by fire lines near Show Low but continued to burn out of control to the west. In all, more than 25,000 people out of the 30,000 evacuated from nine communities were allowed to return home on Saturday.

Officials of the White Mountain Apache Tribe said the fire ravaged tribal land and hurt their economy, which depends on timber and tourists who come to gamble and hunt.

Leonard Gregg, 29, was charged Sunday with starting one of the two wildfires that merged into a monstrous blaze in eastern Arizona. Gregg worked under contract as a firefighter for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and allegedly told an investigator he set grass ablaze so he could earn money as part of a fire crew.

Gregg, who pleaded innocent to the federal charges, is the second person employed to fight wildfires who is accused of setting blazes during one of the country's most destructive fire seasons. Terry Barton, a former U.S. Forest Service employee, was charged in June with setting Colorado's largest-ever wildfire.

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That fire, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Denver in the Pike National Forest, has burned about 137,760 acres (55,104 hectares) and was 90 percent contained Sunday. About 25,000 evacuees were back home Monday but 3,500 to 4,000 others were still being kept away. Barton has pleaded innocent to the federal charges.

The American Red Cross continues to provide food, shelter and other relief to those affected by wildfires throughout the country.

In other developments:

_ Lightning sparked several wildfires in Wyoming that threatened rural homes. Some 40,000 acres (16,000 hectares) were charred. _ An 8,000-acre (3200-hectare) fire that burned through the town of Shields, North Dakota, was contained Sunday afternoon. It burned 30 buildings in the 15-resident town, leaving only one home, a bar and the small post office, since Saturday afternoon. _ A 4,500-acre (1,800-hectare) fire in South Dakota's Black Hills was 35 percent contained after forcing 10,000 to 15,000 residents and tourists to flee. Two homes and six other buildings were destroyed in Deadwood, a town of 1,380 residents. Flames came within 100 yards (91 meters) of the cemetery where Wild West legends Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok are buried. _ Fire crews in Colorado extended their containment lines around a more than 71,000-acre (28,400-hectare) wildfire north of Durango. It was 40 percent contained but still threatened 152 homes. The flames had destroyed 56 houses.