On Saturday, June 13th a car caught fire on the HWY 87 just outside of town and only a few miles away from our new home. The driver pulled over and the fire quickly jumped over to the brush and started spreading.

Two weeks later an area of over 190,000 acres (almost 770 square Kilometers) have burned and the fire is still only about 90% contained. This fire turned into one of the largest in Arizonas history yet.

Only just a few days ago the road to Payson (Hwy 87) opened again and we took the opportunity to drive out towards the Four Peaks Wilderness area where we parked the car and walked into the burned desert.

It is sad and heartbreaking to see the devastation, all the charred cacti and trees, the ashes on the ground and the smell of recent fire. Because the fire was moving fast a lot plants only got burnt close to the ground though and there are small pockets that got sparred from the flames where even delicate dry grass is still standing. We were wondering how delicate thistles can only burn partially, whether the Saguaros that got charred at the bottom will survive, how long it will take for nature to restore itself? It seems that the Yucca trees were hit badly as were the Palo Verde Trees, these will take a very long time to grow back.  

It was heartwarming to see that just a week after the fire some plants are already sprouting fresh green again. Tiny though but still, it’s a good start.

Sadly, while writing this blog post there are currently several other wildfires raging thru Arizona.