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Fire has Nogales on water alert
Fire still burning near city; no talk yet of evacuation

Saturday, 15 June 2002
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20615NOGALESFIRE.html

-ARIZONA DAILY STAR

By Patty Machelor

Water conservation has become a top priority in Nogales, Ariz., as city residents keep a worried watch on the nearby 7,500-acre Walker Fire.

Nogales Mayor Marco A. Lopez Jr. declared an emergency Friday and is urging residents to use water only when necessary, spokesman Juan Pablo said.

"This is to let our people here in Nogales know that if we need to use our water to combat this fire, we want our water pressures to be very effective," Pablo said.

A satellite Global Positioning System, or GPS, was used Friday morning to get a more precise estimate on the fire's boundaries, which were first estimated at about 1,000 acres. Fire information officer Laura Dupee said containment estimates weren't available Friday afternoon.

"Although the fire has gotten bigger, we're still not at the point where we're talking about evacuations or anything like that," she said.

The blaze is burning about four miles west of Nogales, Ariz., and three miles west of Nogales, Sonora. Winds remained calm Friday.

"We've been very fortunate," Gail Aschenbrenner, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman, said of Friday's weather.

An estimated 231 firefighters, aided by 22 Mexican Army soldiers, are fighting the fire, Aschenbrenner said.

The fire started on forest land about half a mile north of the U.S.-Mexican border and about five miles west of Nogales, in Walker Canyon.

Jamalle Karam Simon lives 3 1/2 miles northeast of the border off Arizona 87.

"You can smell the smoke and it just smells like a giant barbecue,'' she said of the area where she has lived most of her life.

Simon is concerned that Nogales' hilly landscape could make it especially vulnerable, but is confident firefighters will stop the flames from reaching the city's edge.

She is also worried about Nogales, Sonora.

"My God, there are thousands of people there with homes all over those hills. . . . They would become homeless," said Simon, a teacher and author who was vice mayor of Nogales, Ariz., in 1999-2000.

"All we can do is pray for rain. That's what we need desperately," she said.

Dupee said members of the Mexican army have started building a fireline around the blaze near Nogales, Sonora.

"Our fire officials have met with the Mexican officials to discuss what joint efforts might be in order and if we might be able to help them with the fire on the south side" of the border, Dupee said. Dupee added that work on firelines will cross the border.

Firefighters on the U.S. side of the border are still working to secure their firelines in the difficult terrain, Dupee said. Once the fire lines are in place, firefighters will begin backburning, or starting a controlled fire to destroy fuel for the wildfire.

Nogales, Ariz., Fire Chief Dennis H. Van Auken said the backburns would likely be along the south edge of Ruby Road on the west edge of the city and southwest down Mariposa Canyon.

Three planes and two helicopters are also being used to fight the fire, but Aschenbrenner said that in terms of equipment, the Nogales fire is not currently the nation's top fire priority.

"It's pretty obvious that those folks in Colorado have the greatest threat and the greatest need for resources," she said, referring to the 100,000-acre fire that began Saturday in Colorado's Pike National Forest.

Dupee said pilots fighting the fire in the helicopters and planes here are also scouting for border-crossers who might be in danger.

"That's always a concern in these areas. I hope these people can see that there's a fire going on," she said.

Rob Daniels, public information officer with the U.S. Border Patrol, said there have been no reports of emergencies related to the fire and border-cross-ers.

"A smuggler, if nothing else, is not going to put himself in that kind of danger," he said.

* Contact reporter Patty Machelor at 807-7789 or at pmachelo@azstarnet.com

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