Water Wheel Fire Near Payson, Arizona

Robert came home around 1:30 this afternoon from turkey hunting up on the Mogollon Rim and noticed a pretty large wildfire. Listening to our scanner we heard that the fire was started near or in the Water Wheel Campground about 13 miles northeast of Payson.

Quite a while ago I wrote an article about Water Wheel Campground. It's one of my favorite places to go swimming. Here are some pictures of what it looked like then. I'm afraid that now some or all of this may be destroyed.

Robert and I continued to listen to the scanner as we headed up to the airport to get a better view of the fire. The residential area of Whispering Pines was evacuated and everyone was sent to the Payson High School gym. Not long after, the residential area of Beaver Valley was also evacuated. So far, we have not heard of any structure fires and we hope it stays that way.

By the time Robert and I got out to the airport the fire was moving pretty quickly and creating a tall mushroom cloud. (Please excuse the power lines in the shots).

Here the fire is beginning to move along the top of that ridge.

This plane is landing after taking a ride up closer to the fire before flight restrictions were issued.

As the fire was consuming the top of this ridge you could see tall flames.

Different columns of smoke come together and twist.

For some reason the yellow helicopter in the pictures was not being used on the fire, it probably did not have the capability for actual firefighting. Pretty soon a bucket hauler came in to help out a little as long as the winds weren't too strong.

We left the fire to let Robert come home and put on some cooler clothing and grab something for dinner. This is what Payson looked like at that time. Some of the clouds are storm clouds although it growled more than it rained. Bummer.

When we got back to the fire we saw a news channel helicopter flying in for a report and an air attack plane flying over to assess the fire and make plans with slurry tanker planes.

The chopper hauling the water bucket was also coming in to refuel. The wind sure pushes that little chopper around.

Pretty soon the cloud above the fire collapsed and caused the smoke to spread out all around. We watched as the smoke started to fill up the canyons and valleys and head toward Payson.

Back behind us you could see a rainbow through the smoke and a fire engine on standby.

Remember the picture above, when we left to get something to eat? This is what Payson looks like now. Looks like we're in for a very smoky night.

I hope and pray that all the evacuees are safe tonight and that their homes and animals stay safe as well.