Bush Declares Fire-Ravaged Arizona a Disaster Area
330,000-acre fire destroyed 375 houses, forced 30,000 to flee

June 25, 2002

SHOW LOW, Ariz.  — The fire-ravaged state of Arizona was declared a major disaster area Tuesday, and President Bush ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area.

The President's action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the state's Apache and Navajo Counties and the Fort Apache Indian Reservation.

Meanwhile, firefighters took advantage of cooperative weather to attack the massive wildfire threatening to consume the evacuated mountain town of Show Low, in the eastern part of the state.

The hot, dry winds of the past few days died down, allowing time for the completion of fire lines and a pre-burned buffer zone designed to stop the conflagration a half-mile out of town.

"We're back to fighting this fire," fire spokesman Jim Paxon said. "It's been beating us up for a week, and we're back to fighting this monster."

The 330,000-acre fire, the largest ever in Arizona, has destroyed at least 375 houses — revised upwards from 329 after a house-by-house count — and forced 30,000 people to flee their homes.

Bush planned to fly over the fire Tuesday, then touch down to meet evacuees and firefighters, whose total numbers were expected to be between 5,000 and 6,000 within a few days.

Assessing Monday's progress, Paxon was optimistic.

"A lot of things happened today and none of them were bad," he said. "This is the first day in five that we didn't lose any structures."

Frustration and impatience were growing among the evacuees, many of whom have spent days in shelters without any word about their homes. Navajo County planned to set up a telephone number residents could call to find out whether their homes were still standing.

"I feel so helpless," said Alli Klein, whose family lives in the small town of Heber, which the fire raced through on Saturday. "I wish this emotional roller coaster that I've been experiencing would end soon."

The fire still could make an end run around the fire line, but officials believed that a frontal assault on the town and on another nearby community could be averted.

A few glimpses of the destruction the fire had left behind were beginning to surface. Videotape of the Pine Crest Lake mobile home park showed nothing but burned-out shells where homes once stood.

Paxon emphasized that far more homes had been saved than destroyed. Still, some locals were prepared for the worst.

"There's some stuff left behind that was important to me," evacuee Tad Klein said, "but it's not a big deal. What matters is I have my family, my friends and my faith. The rest I'm not in control of."

The fire has covered 517 square miles, an area bigger than Los Angeles. The worst day was Saturday, when in a single afternoon the fire raced across seven miles of one of the country's largest stands of Ponderosa pine.

The fire has surpassed the May 2000 fire that destroyed more than 220 homes and businesses in Los Alamos, N.M., making it among the most destructive wildfires ever.

Across the country, 2.33 million acres have been burned this year by wildfires, according to the government's National Interagency Fire Center.

In Colorado, crews continued to fight a 66,310-acre blaze that had destroyed 45 homes near Durango. The fire flared Monday, forcing dozens of residents from more than 100 homes. In all, some 1,200 homes have been evacuated.

South of Denver, a 137,000-acre blaze that had destroyed at least 133 homes was reported 69 percent contained.

In Show Low, many homes on the western edge of town were tagged with red flags, a signal that firefighters would not try to save them because of thick underbrush or wood-shingled roofs.

Brown plumes of smoke spiraled into a hazy sky that blocked the sun and cast an eerie orange glow. Ash piled up in gutters and on cars.

Becky and Dany Seymour were among those who refused to leave their Show Low homes.

"We had a good view and since this began we've been watching and really we had no fear until yesterday afternoon," Becky Seymour said. "Then smoke and a lot of ash started coming this way, but we just have faith everything's going to be all right."

Still, the Seymours had packed a trailer and were ready to make their getaway.

Ted Heming, a retiree who has lived in Heber for six years, did not know what he would do if his home is lost. But he has some idea of where he might go if he had to pull up stakes.

"Somewhere where it rains a lot," he said. "Maybe Seattle."

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