Covering the Critical Story – Schultz Fire, Flagstaff
Last Sunday was supposed to be one of my first actual days off in a while. I slept in until noon, thinking that nothing could bother me today.
I checked the usual: Phone, e-mail, etc. Reports had been coming in since 10:30 of a wildfire very close to the Flagstaff area. "Another one?" I thought. Flagstaff had an extremely close, 350 acre wildfire start the day before, called the Hardy Fire.
A long exposure of the Hardy Fire southeast of Flagstaff the night after it started.
Using preliminary information from APSN, I wrote a blurb and posted it on NAZ Today's website. Little did I know that this would just be the beginning.
FLAGSTAFF (NAZ Today) - Another fire in the Flagstaff area has sparked up in the Schultz Pass area, approximately six miles north of the Flagstaff downtown area.
Evacuations of the now 50-acre fire are beginning in Timberline, Wupatki Trail, and Fort Timberline neighborhoods with Wupatki Estates and Fernwood on standby. With 15-17 mph winds gusting to 30 mph, this fire is growing rapidly.
According to APSN, the fire is active on both sides of the forest service road 420, and four air tankers, as well as two helicopters have been requested to help extinguish the fire.
The Flagstaff Airport is now redirecting all air traffic so that air tankers can easily come into the area, according to APSN.
The "mushroom cloud" of smoke from the start of the Schultz Fire, early Sunday afternoon as seen from the NAU campus.
