The Wallow Fire, named for the

Bear Wallow Wilderness The Bear Wallow Wilderness is an wilderness area in eastern Arizona in the United States. The wilderness, located in the Apache National Forest, is managed by the U.S. Forest Service. The area has been severely affected by the Wallow Fire of J ...

area where the fire originated, was a massive

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

that started in the White Mountains near

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National Pa ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

on May 29, 2011. The fire eventually spread across the stateline into western

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. By the time the fire was contained on July 8, it had consumed of land, in Arizona and in New Mexico.

Cause

The fire was started accidentally by two men who were camping. They cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges relating to mismanagement of their campfire. In November, 2012 they were ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3.7 million.

Response

The communities of

, Blue River, Greer, Nutrioso,

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology Al ...

, Springerville,

Eagar Eagar is a town in Apache County, Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 4,885. Eagar was first settled in 1871. History Brothers William Walter John Thomas and Joel Sixtus settled the area under the dir ...

in Arizona, and

Luna Luna commonly refers to: * Earth's Moon, named "Luna" in Latin * Luna (goddess), the ancient Roman personification of the Moon Luna may also refer to: Places Philippines * Luna, Apayao * Luna, Isabela * Luna, La Union * Luna, San Jose Roma ...

were evacuated. In addition to other aircraft, a converted

DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...

Very Large Air Tanker ("VLAT"), capable of dropping up to 12,000 gallons of

fire retardant A fire retardant is a substance that is used to slow down or stop the spread of fire or reduce its intensity. This is commonly accomplished by chemical reactions that reduce the flammability of fuels or delay their combustion. Fire retardants m ...

in seconds, was deployed to help fight the fire. On June 11, 2011, the leading edge of the fire advanced into

Catron County, New Mexico Catron County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2010 census, the population was 3,725, making it New Mexico's third-least populous county. Its county seat is Reserve. Catron County is New Mexico's largest county by area. H ...

. On June 12, evacuations were lifted for Eagar, Springerville and South Fork. On June 14, the Wallow Fire became the largest fire in Arizona history, passing the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, which burned in 2002. On June 18 and 20, evacuations were lifted for Alpine and Greer and on June 21, the evacuation for

, NM was lifted. Additionally, the

Apache National Forest Apache National Forest was established by the U.S. Forest Service in Arizona and New Mexico on July 1, 1908, with from portions of Black Mesa National Forest. In 1974 the entire forest was administratively combined with Sitgreaves National Fore ...

was closed to the public. On July 3, the fire was 95% contained. The Wallow Fire was declared 100% contained as of 6 p.m., July 8.

Damage

Four commercial buildings were destroyed; 36 outbuildings were destroyed and one damaged; 32 residences were destroyed and 5 damaged. The estimated cost was $109 million.

Widespread smoke plume

The thick smoke in the NASA satellite image was only part of the smoky haze plaguing the continental United States in early June 2011. According to the U.S. Air Quality
Smog Blog
, smoke from fires in Arizona and New Mexico extended through Texas and Oklahoma up into the Great Lakes region, affecting air quality for large areas east of the Rocky Mountains.Audi, Tamara (9 June 2011
"Arizona Fires Worsen: Authorities Say Biggest Blaze Covers 389,000 Acres; 2 Towns Ordered to Evacuate"
''Wall Street Journal''
/ref>

References

External links

Wallow
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InciWeb InciWeb is an interagency all-risk incident web information management system provided by the United States Forest Service released in 2004. It was originally developed for wildland fire emergencies, but can be also used for other emergency incid ...

Incident Information System
U.S. Air Quality “Smog Blog”
at

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...