Hopefully, this will be the only post I ever add to this page. Last night while eating dinner, we heard planes and helicopters overhead. There was a sheriff’s helicopter, two small planes and a larger plane circling above our townhouse. We didn’t know what was happening until we went over to the house and went up on the roof deck. That is when we realized there was a wildfire in the Tonto National Forest behind our development. It was named the “Rio Fire.” Luckily, our neighbor told us it was on the other side of the river. Not only did we have the river as a fire block, but our community has a Community Wildfire Protection Plan and is a certified “Firewise Community.” They have received grants and have cleared areas around the perimeter of the community to create defensible spaces to prevent fire from transferring to structures. Each house has also taken steps to create defensible spaces around their homes. In addition, any new residential structure must contain a fire sprinkler system (yep, that means us).
This plane was dropping fire retardant to help keep the fire from spreading.
6/11 – fire retardant plane.
This was the view from our rooftop deck at 7:30 pm.
6/11 – RIO Fire from our rooftop deck.
We took this picture at 8:12 pm from the development street that is closest to the river.
6/11 – Rio Fire 8:12 pm.
You Tube video of fire: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CezeF1Rcpmk
They were still dropping water from a helicopter at noon today, but by late this afternoon, the fire was out.
The place is looking good. What is the estimated move in date?
September 26 – not sure if we will make that or not. We have been waiting on sub-contractors.
OMG – the house is gorgeous!
Thank you; we think so too. We are moving in Sept 26 whether it is completed or not.