Pinetop White Mountain Blog

Good Evening Everyone,

I thought you all might be interested in a little update on the Wildfire that is raging in the White Mountains of Arizona.  Rumors are flying that the whole mountain is on fire.  This is simply not true.  There is a huge fire raging in the area and it has been compounded by the fact that we have had terrible high winds in the area ever since this fire started. 

Pinetop, Lakeside, and Show Low have not been affected by this fire and at this time there is no danger that it will come this way.  It is burning along the Eastern Border of the State in a lightly populated area.  Many people have been evacuated but it is for the safely of the people so they don't get trapped and to allow the firefighters access to the properties so they can protect structures.  There have been a few structures lost but because there are not too many homes in the area of the fire, that loss has been kept to a minimum.

The difficulty with this fire is that it is burning in a heavily timbered area where there are few natural breaks that the firefighters could use to cut lines around it.  It has been compounded by very high winds that have been blowing in the area ever since the fire started on May 31st.

I am not in any way minimizing the danger of this fire but I wanted to put to rest the rumors that Pinetop is on evacuation alert or has been evacuated.  It has not and it is unlikely that will occur at this time.  There is no question that this is a huge fire and it is raging out of control, but for now the communities of Pinetop, Lakeside, & Show Low are not threatened by this fire.  The communities East of here have been evacuated or are on alert for it so they can minimize the danger to life. 

Take my word for it, there is no one in this area who is not concerned about the dangers.  We are not strangers to big fires having lived through the Rodeo - Chediski fire in 2002.    This time of year is always dangerous and some years are worse than others.  This year is particularly a bad one because we had a very dry winter that followed a very wet winter in 2009-2010 so there is a lot of brush and undergrowth that is very dry because it has been a dry year. 

To keep abreast of the most recent news, go to Facebook and "Friend" the White Mountain Independent Newspaper because they have been on top of things and have been posting regularly on what is going on near this fire. 

At this point all any of us can do is pray that the winds settle down so the Firefighters can have a fighting chance of getting the monster contained.  Prayers can't hurt and if you want to help the victims of this fire contact the local Red Cross as they are taking donations of supplies, money, and any useful items to aid the people who are sitting in shelters with what they could carry away from their homes in suitcases and their trunks.  Having been there myself in 2002 I can tell you it is really frightening to be away from home with most of your life left behind not knowing if you will have it to go back to.

Thanks for reading, I'll update you more as I can. 

Sandra Paulow, Associate Broker, GRI, SFR, REALTOR® (928) 242-0300