Pilot Fire Update

Pilot Fire

Incident Type: Wildfire
Cause: Human caused
Date of Origin: Sat, 07/01/2023 – 11:18
Location: 20 miles east of Wikieup; Mohon Mountains
Incident Commander: Darrell Willis, Type 3 IC, Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management
Total Personnel: 122
Size: 32,028 Acres
Percent of Perimeter Contained: 0%
Fuels Involved: Grass and Pinyon-juniper

Crews successfully establishing containment line around the fire utilizing hand tools and firing operations. Sunday, a Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) assisted with suppression on the northern flank. The use of retardant helps slow the fire’s progression so hand crews can construct containment line along a two-track road. Fire spotted over that road, but crews were quick to pick it up. Crews are working to keep the northern flank of the fire from moving toward Cow and Trout Creeks. The east side of the fire is being monitored by aircraft and the UAS platform. The steep and treacherous terrain makes it too risky to send crews in to actively engage with suppression. On the southwest flank, resources are working to establish containment line by tying it in with an existing road to keep the fire from progressing to the Francis Creek-area. Along the west side, the fire is remaining within its primary containment line. Overall, all primary control lines are holding.

On This Day in History — 1965

Erwin Mortier, Belgian author and poet Dutch-language (born 1965) 🔗

Additional resources arrived on the fire Saturday, July 8, including hotshot crews, Department of Forestry and Fire Management (DFFM) hand crews, and two additional Type 2-IA hand crews. One engine arrived Sunday and an order has been placed for five more. Aircraft including Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATs), helicopters and the state’s Air Attack (AA) platform are assigned to the incident and will be used as needed. A Rapid Extraction Module Support (REMS) team arrived to the incident along with a Line Medics Team arriving today with UTVs. Crews are working in very steep and rugged terrain and at times may not be able to engage due to the risks associated with suppression efforts. In a medical emergency, an extraction off of the incident could take more than four hours to get to the nearest medical facility.

While hand crews and aircraft continue on with suppression efforts utilizing hand line and firing operations, we continue to monitor the fire by air, through the use of DFFM’s UAS platform and via satellite-based mapping systems. Operations will also use natural boundaries, two track roads, previous burn scars and monsoon activity to help with full suppression of this fire. At the initial start of this incident, Management Action Plans were determined to increase suppression efforts should the fire hit pre-established trigger points. Once the fire hit those trigger points, suppression efforts were ramped up. Again, this fire is located in very steep and treacherous terrain. As with every incident, firefighter safety is our number one priority and one of the main reasons hand crews did not engaged at the immediate start of the incident. Drive times to get to the fire line in some areas are as long as five hours. Meals and additional, necessary equipment will be dropped in via helicopters to crews spiked out on the fire line.

Smoke off the fire is visible around the US 93 and Interstate 40 junction and visible to many communities around the Mohon Mountains in both Yavapai and Mohave Counties. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has issued a wildfire smoke forecast for the Pilot Fire.

The Pilot Fire started Saturday, July 1, around 11 am and is located near the O RO Ranch within the Mohon Mountains in Yavapai County, approximately 20 miles east of the town of Wikieup. The fire is burning in an area that has very substantial fire history, within rugged and remote terrain in a sparsely populated area. The terrain-driven fire made a run up Pilot Knob on Saturday and produced a highly visible smoke column noticeable to residents as far away as Kingman.

ADEQ Wildfire Smoke Forecast: https://www.azdeq.gov/wildfiresmokeforecast?fire=pilotfire