Oak Creek Canyon Hangs in the Balance

Human-caused Brins Fire torches 1,500 acres

by Chelsea DeWeese, Larson Newspapers

The latest wildland forest fire to cause large-scale evacuations in Northern Arizona, the Brins Fire, is burning steadily in the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness, approximately one mile north of Sedona. The fire was 5 percent contained as of Tuesday, June 20, and had not damaged any structures at that time.

The Brins Fire ignited on Sunday, June 18, off Brins Mesa Trail north of Sedona. According to fire officials, the Brins Fire started from an escaped campfire at a suspected transient camp.

The Brins Fire had burned approximately 1,500 acres of wilderness area as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday, and had forced the evacuation of nearly 500 homes and businesses throughout northern Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. More than 400 firefighters continued to work aggressively on the Brins Fire as of Tuesday morning, focusing heavily on the northeastern front of the blaze in an attempt to keep it from spreading down the eastern slope of Wilson Mountain and into the vulnerable Oak Creek Canyon.

Firefighters had so far been able to keep the Brins Fire at least one mile away from any structures inside Oak Creek Canyon, and continued to work on creating, "defensible space" around houses and Hwy 89A, which had been closed to through-traffic shortly after the fire began.

Ground crews focused on thinning ladder fuels such as brush and limbs near the bottom of the canyon, while air-assault units used slurry and water drops to hold off the fire's forward advance. On the western side of the Brins Fire, approximately one mile north of West Sedona, firefighters worked on the "heel" of the fire, digging in containment lines and extinguishing hot spots. Sedona resident Joanne Hiscox, a local artist, was one of many area residents who saw the Brins Fire start on Sunday. She was working in her north-facing studio at the tip of Jordan Road when she saw flames advancing down the eastern side of Coffee Pot Rock, toward her and her husband's residence. "You could see flames on the ridge; it was starting to come over the ridge," she recalled.

Just then, a helicopter-suspended bucket tore past her window. The Hiscoxes, who grabbed some artwork, some papers and their two golden retrievers, were two of nearly 100 homeowners in the Jordan Road and Soldier Pass Road areas who were evacuated.