Brooklynne Danner gives a thumbs up as her mother listens to the information being provided by Fire personnel.

At the final community meeting for the evacuees in Crown King and Horsethief Basin, the information was short but sweet. According to Tony Scaccia, the Type 2 Incident Commander, the fire is at 90% containment, and residents of the Horsethief Basin will hopefully be allowed to return home by Wednesday morning.

"Well, the crowd's shrunk, I think there's more media than there are residents, and that's a good sign," Scaccia said, as he stood up to give an update. "Remember when we started this whole thing, and we'd get up here and we'd have lots of red lines on our map. Now we've got lots of black lines... These are the areas of concern that we still have. The fire did get some rain, but there's still some hot stuff. And what we're trying to get together now is what we call suppression rehab. When the fire burned through, it created a bunch of hazards, and we're trying to alleviate those hazards. So, the status of the fire tonight should be about 90% contained, and we're going to continue to pluggin' away."

In the meantime, Scaccia asked that the Lorena Gulch and Horsethief Basin residents be patient a little bit longer, promising that as soon as it was safe, they would be allowed to return. Most of the residents were satisfied with that, especially after Steve Lombardo, their local Fire Chief nodded his agreement with Scaccia.

However, one couple from Horsethief Basin was unhappy because they had driven to Crown King last night, not understanding that they could not be allowed in yet. Scaccia accepted responsibilty for the mixup, and apologized for the miscommunication but again asked for patience. "I take full responsibility for the breakdown in communication about you getting into Lorena Gulch, I understand the Singers went up there, and you couldn't get in. Let me give you an explanation for that. Number one, is that as my team went in and looked, there was some hazardous materials at first identified - it was a propane tank that looked like it had swelled on one side and was a possible hazard... there was some other hazardous material, and they've pretty much cleaned that up. The next thing I'm asking for your patience on, and I know you want to go home, is that there's a lot of what we call suppression rehab - we're trying to fall all the trees, get all the stuff cleaned up that we made the mess on the way to your house, and I'm hoping we'll have that cleaned up late Tuesday, into Wednesday and you can go home at that point. I know you've stuck with me, and I've been straight, and I've been honest with you about everything that's happened so far, and I'm giving you the straight scoop. It's not safe - Chief Lombardo and I've had the conversation, he's been up there, it's not safe. I'm buying some time to get there get all that stuff so you can go home and have no hazards when you get up there."

In the meantime, Lori Danner said that although she and her family were anxious to return, she was willing to wait until the firemen said it was safe to return. Her sister, Dawn Colt, lost her home in the blaze, and is apprehensive about returning, but able to count her blessings despite it all. Already in the process of building a new home, they were grateful that it was not damaged, despite the fact that it was just across the street.

The Danner family is staying at the Marriott Residence Inn, across from Costco, which, truthfully, is kind of an adventure for the kids. When asked how the hotel is, their daughter, Brooklynne, said shyly, "Okay," but when asked how the pool is, she had just one word to say enthusiastically, as she jumped up and down, "Fun!"

Current Status 

Afterwards, Scaccia said that the size of the fire is not expected to get any larger than the 9320 acres it is at currently. Tuesday night (June 8), at the 6 pm Operations meeting, Scaccia will hand the incident management back over to the National Forest Service, which will continue the clean-up in the area.

Scaccia points to the fire line map.

King explained that 'fire rehab' means that the crews are cutting trees to make the roads safer, reseeding grass and other tasks to help the community recover as quickly as possible.King noted that he saw grass seed being delivered to the area just this morning.

County Supervisor Thom Thurmond told the residents that two rolloffs had been delivered to the area for their personal use in the cleanup. The health department strongly recommended that all refrigerated food be thrown away, due to the power being out for so long.

APS representatives said that so far it is known for certain that eight poles are down, and power may not be restored to the Horsethief Basin and Lorena Gulch area for one to two more weeks.  

The Saloon Is Saved

It's an interesting fact to note that throughout Crown King's history, fire has been a threat for a long time. On the Crown King General Store website, a bit of history is offered. We quote parts of their timeline below:

1888 - "One of the first business ventures to spring up near the Crowned King Mine was a saloon."

1904 - Town burns; Saloon saved!

1916 - Current Saloon moved from Oro Belle to Crown King.

1950 - Fire in Crown King - Church burns, Store and Saloon barely saved.

1972 - Battle Flat fire destroys over 28,000 acres

1988 - Tie House burns, Saloon saved!

2003 - Switchback Bar Y Cafe burns; Saloon saved! 

Surely there will soon be another entry, 2008 - Lane 2 Fire, town and Saloon saved! 

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