Big Idea

• The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office announced that most evacuees are able to return
• Roadblocks and closures are still in place for non-residents
• Lookout Mountain residents are still unable to return
• A BAER Team is coming in for a rapid evaluations of the burned area to identify unacceptable risks on National Forest  Service lands from post-fire threats.
• Read more…

The Crooks Fire is looking very promising

From the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page: 

The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office has announced that the people who live in the following areas that had been evacuated will be allowed to return to their homes today.

AREA OPENINGS:

Residents in the area of Forest Service Roads 79 and 80 or Mount Tritle area may return now.

Breezy Pines residents are able to return home beginning today at noon.

Walker South, Potato Patch, Mountain Pine acres may return beginning at 3 pm.

All residents returning to the Walker area need to take Walker Rd., not Senator Hwy. Property owners will have to show proof of residency to pass through the roadblocks.

Mountain Pine Acres residents may take Senator Highway to their homes.

If property owners get to residence and find damage to their homes, they can call Karen Pimental from RED CROSS at 530-310-2153 for assistance.

Please remember that there is still fire fighting equipment and personnel in the area so exercise extreme caution and slow down for everyone's safety.

ROADBLOCKS:

The current roadblock on Senator Highway will be moved south to Wiggler Road. The roadblock at Walker Road will move to Big Bug Mesa. Arizona Game and Fish will be monitoring the roadblocks

EVACUATIONS:

Lookout Mountain will remain on GO

Walker Road South will move to SET

All other areas will roll back to READY

CLOSURES:

Arizona Game and Fish are still holding hard closures at Ponderosa Pines and Lower Wolf Creek, and Lookout Mountain will remain closed until further notice. The forest is still closed. To view the Crooks Fire area closure order and map visit: Prescott National Forest - Alerts & Notices (usda.gov)

BAER Information: David Moore, BAER Team Leader 928-443-8000

BAER Team Assessment of Crooks Fire Impacts

PRESCOTT, AZ – May 2, 2022 - A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team is being established to begin a burned area assessment of the Crooks wildfire on the Bradshaw Ranger District. BAER assessments are rapid evaluations of the burned area to identify unacceptable risks on National Forest Service (NFS) lands from post-fire threats. The team’s focus is on the emergency actions necessary to protect life and safety, property and critical natural and cultural resources on NFS lands. The team is working in conjunction with the Yavapai County Flood Control District and shares burned area information from the assessment with other federal, state and local agencies with post-fire responsibilities on state and private lands both within and downstream of burned areas, including USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), National Weather Service (NWS), and US Geological Survey (USGS).

BAER teams consist of scientists and specialists including hydrologists, geologists, soil scientists, engineers, botanists, biologists, archaeologists, and geographic information specialists. The teams collect data during ground surveys and complete GIS and modeling to evaluate the post-fire risks. The first step in the BAER assessment process is taking satellite imagery and data collected during ground surveys to produce a soil burn severity map. The soil burn severity provides the baseline information to determine changed watershed conditions for assessing potential watershed impacts from wildfires, such as flooding and unstable soils. This information is then compiled to determine if post fire emergency conditions are present.  The order of emergency response strategies includes natural recovery, administrative closure, then land treatments if unacceptable risks are identified.

Everyone near and downstream from the Crooks Fire burned area should remain alert and stay updated on weather conditions that may result in heavy rains over the area. Flash flooding could occur quickly during heavy rain events.

REMINDER: The Crooks Fire Area Closure is still in effect on the Prescott National Forest. Detailed information and maps are available on InciWeb athttps://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8067/.  For additional information related to the closure please call Crooks Fire Information at (928) 925-1111

Fire Summary as of Monday

Despite the high winds on Sunday, crews were able to keep the fire from expanding, and increase the containment to 75%. There are 826 personnel assigned to the fire. Learn more: Morning Operational Briefing with Kyle Jacobson, Operations Section Chief with California Interagency Incident Management Team 4.

Crews are focusing on structure protection and thinning of vegetation, which will help provide protection to communities for years to come. Road damage is being repaired.

Weather

Gusts near 30 mph are possible Tuesday as a low-pressure system passes through Central Arizona.