Firefighters face risky conditions, douse blaze near Madera Canyon

A small brush fire near the entrance to Madera Canyon that quickly grew into a 175-acre wildfire Friday afternoon had the potential to become the worst case scenario for residents of the sky island canyon.

The fire, which was 80 percent contained by Friday night, was expected to be fully contained by 6 p.m. Saturday, said Heidi Schewel, a fire information officer with the Coronado National Forest.

The fire fed on the dry desert scrub, mesquite, and grasses in and around the Proctor Parking Lot in the canyon’s lower reaches, fuels that burn easily and quickly in this season of drought, scorching heat, and shifting, fickle winds.

A quick response and a large firefighting force that included crews from Green Valley, Tubac, Rural/Metro, and the Forest Service, along with three, 20-person Hot-Shot crews, air-tankers, and helicopters were credited with keeping the blaze from becoming the devastating event it could have been.

Schewel said firefighters worked through the night Friday to keep the blaze from spreading.

“This was a major scare because of its location,” said Luis Calvo, owner of the Chuparosa Bed and Breakfast near the top of the canyon. “It had the potential to block the only exit out of the canyon.”

Two-lane Madera Canyon Road, with its three, one-lane bridges, provides the only route into and out of the world-famous birding and hiking destination, making any fire activity anywhere near the road a major hazard for residents and visitors.

Law enforcement officials began an evacuation soon after the human-caused brush fire broke out about a mile west of the canyon’s entrance Friday at approximately 11:30 a.m.

Some 68 residents and 30 visitor vehicles were told to leave the canyon immediately, and about 30 staff and visitors at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory atop nearby Mount Hopkins were evacuated as well.

Chuparosa Manager Jenni Tobias said she nearly had to dodge flames licking at the road as she made a dramatic getaway after a deputy told her to leave just after noon on Friday.

A column of smoke could be seen from just about anywhere in Green Valley, no doubt reminding residents of the 23,000-acre Florida Fire that ripped through the Santa Rita Mountains in the summer of 2005, evacuating Madera Canyon and Mount Hopkins for several days.

Canyon residents were allowed to return to their homes and businesses by 8 p.m. Friday night, and Schewel said the canyon would reopen to visitors at 6 this morning.

In previous years, Forest Service officials have closed the canyon to day-use for several weeks because of potential fire danger. Keith Graves, the District Ranger in charge of Madera Canyon, could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Monsoonal precipitation, expected to arrive soon as a result of the shifting winds south of the border called the Mexican Monsoon, will likely provide some solace to Southern Arizona residents who live, like those in Madera Canyon, near what’s called the urban-wilderness interface—the Arizonans most at risk to lose their homes and their lives to wildfire.

But the life-giving summer rainy season can also bring dry lightning, which has ignited many of the West’s worst wildfires.

According to the National Weather Service in Tucson, the monsoon is said to have begun when the average daily dewpoint is 54 degrees or greater for three consecutive days.

Last year’s start date was June 28, while the average start date is July 3.

In 2005, the rains didn’t come until July 18, when they arrived just in time to finally quell the Florida Fire.

The average dew point at Tucson International Airport has been running in the low 30s since mid-June.

Tim Hull is a freelancer reporter and former assistant managing editor of the Green Valley News. Sahuarita Sun Reporter Phil Franchine contributed this report.