Officials were optimistic after containing 10 percent of the 1,350 acre Nuttall fire on Mount Graham on Friday morning. That optimism quickly faded as temperatures and wind speeds increased, humidity levels dropped, and the fire raced out of control during the day and throughout the weekend.

Flames jumping from treetop to treetop and burning embers carried by the wind this weekend brought the Nuttall fire to 6,588 acres and the Gibson fire to 6,215 acres by Monday morning. The fires continue to threaten the Mount Graham International Observatory with flames as close as three-quarters of a mile from the telescopes.

Mount Graham is also the largest spruce-fir forest in Southern Arizona and home to the endangered Mount Graham Red Squirrel. Paul Summerfelt, deputy incident commander, said weather conditions on Friday caused both the Gibson and Nuttall fires to grow dramatically.

"Conditions deteriorated enough in terms of the relative humidity and the temperatures that not only did the Gibson fire get very active, but that is when the whole east flank of the Nuttall fire -- we lost that," he said.

The fires continued to grow and by Saturday morning, officials decided to treat the two fires as one. Summerfelt said the fires will likely merge together on the north side of Mount Graham.

If the two fires join, the complex could grow to 50,000 acres. Pruett Small, operations section chief, predicted the fires would merge by Friday, but said that is contingent upon wind conditions. Winds are pushing the Nuttall fire east towards the Gibson fire and the observatory.

Dan Oltrogge, incident commander for the fire, said Monday evening that he doesn't expect the fires to merge, but said that was just a prediction.

Protecting the observatory and other existing structures on the mountain is one of two main goals for firefighters. They are also concerned with keeping the flames on the north side of the Pinaleno Mountains.

Bill Lewis, interim district ranger for the Safford Ranger District, said terrain on the south side of the mountains is worse than the north face. The fire would be extremely difficult to fight on the south side of the mountain.

"The south side is something we definitely don't want the fire to get into," Lewis said last week.

Firefighters will work throughout the week, using the Swift Trail, Forest Road 507, and bulldozer lines along the top of the mountain to build the northern containment line, according to Small.

"Our strategy to deal with both fires is to go along the top of Mount Graham on the north side and either use the Swift Trail road or use a dozer line and try to keep it right on top of the mountain all the way across to the observatory," Small said. "The whole objective is to try to keep the fire on the north side of the mountain utilizing ridge tops, roads where we can or dozer lines."

Small said once a line is established on top of the mountain, they are going to try to back burn down the slope.

"That's not as easy as it is said, especially on those ridge tops, especially at 9,000 feet," Small said. "We're trying to get the fire to carry downslope and the wind is blowing up in our face at 20 miles-per-hour shooting fire behind us."

Small said he does not anticipate the weather improving anytime soon. He said moisture is not anticipated until the latter half of next week. "Until then, we're in critical fire behavior time of year when these fires get up and run and do all these things we don't like them to do."

Structures threatened

Not only is the $200 million Mount Graham International Observatory in danger, communication towers on Heliograph Peak, the Columbine Work Station and the more than 100 homes and buildings in Old Columbine and Turkey Flat remain threatened by the fires. Firefighters are working to protect these structures.

"Wherever the fire might hit structures we're doing structure protection in those areas," Small said.

The fire came within three-quarters of a mile from the observatory Saturday but did not progress any further.

Dr. John M. Hill, director of the Large Binocular Telescope Project, said he was a little nervous as the flames approached the observatory Saturday, but he felt better Monday.

"Today seems a little better than Saturday," he said. "I feel a little better every time I look at the web cam and see the little green buses for the hotshot crews in front of the building."

Small said firefighters are working around the observatory, removing vegetation, clearing debris with bulldozers and preparing the building to receive fire and embers. They are also looking for places where defensible measures can be used, such as placing fire-retarding gels or foams.

The observatory was evacuated at 5 p.m. Friday evening, except for three observatory employees and one supervisory firefighter who will remain at the facility to operate its external fire protection sprinkler system. Recent efforts to safeguard the observatory included creating a 200-foot perimeter and adding a water storage tank and sprinkler system. The tank holds 60,000 gallons of water.

Small said there is enough water to operate the sprinklers for about an hour.

"When we think that the fire is within an hour, we're going to throw the switch and run the sprinkler system," he said.

The employees remaining at the observatory will stay in a special room in the building designed to be fire safe.

"Inside of the observatory, what they have is a safe room where probably a dozen-plus people can get in and ride the fire out," Small said. "They've made provisions for the wildland fire threat to an observatory on top of a forested mountain."

Summerfelt said the longer they can keep the fire from approaching the telescopes, the better they will be.

"I think every day has been crucial for the observatory," he said. "Every day that we prolong, that is a victory for us ... because it allows us to do the prep work that we need to do."

A fire is burning in Marijilda Canyon less than one mile from Heliograph Peak, home of a repeater used by Forest Service employees and other governmental officials.

Users of the electronic equipment on Heliograph Peak include U.S. Customs, the Southwest Gas Corporation, Sky Island Services, the University of Arizona, MCI, the Eastern Arizona Amateur Radio Society, the Graham County Sheriff's Department and others.

Oltrogge said work is being done to prep the site, and while he is concerned that the fire may burn through the area, he does not expect any of the electronic equipment at the site to be damaged.

The fire needs to move out of Marijilda Canyon and into Noon Canyon before the peak will be threatened. If that happens, however, the fire will be in a canyon directly below the peak.

"If the fire is down below and comes running up, that's a problem," Oltrogge said. "I feel confident that we can protect the electronic equipment up there."

Oltrogge said there is a historic cabin near Heliograph that he is not sure he can save.

Small said crews are also working around Columbine and Turkey Flats to remove vegetation and prepare the structures for the possibility that the fire advances in that direction. He estimated the fire is still a week away from threatening these sites.

Columbine and Turkey Flat were evacuated last week. Although not in imminent danger, people who owned cabins in Turkey Flats were allowed two hours Monday morning to grab any belongings they wanted to protect from the possible fire.

Pearl Mulleneaux, who was leading a caravan of four trucks loaded down with furniture and household items, said she picked up her possessions as a precautionary measure.

"We grabbed everything," she said. "I'm concerned, but I don't think it will burn."

Joyce Alder grabbed some old items that have been in the cabin since around the time it was built by her husband's great-grandfather. Joyce's husband is Pima volunteer firefighter Scott Alder.

"It's old, old, old stuff that's been in the family forever," she said. "There were lots of old things inside and we grabbed them just in case."

She, too, didn't think the fire would threaten the cabins.

Oltrogge said things aren't looking so good for Columbine. He said crews are actively working in the area to create defendable areas around structures. If a fire rages into the area, however, he said it will be too dangerous to do any structural firefighting.

The fire has burned into the 1,700-acre Mount Graham Red Squirrel Refugium and threatens the habitat of the endangered animal.

Graham County Supervisor Mark Herrington said the tremendous number of trees killed by beetle recently has caused a lot of the squirrels to leave the refugium in favor of lower elevations. He said while he does not expect the fire to be catastrophic for the Red Squirrel, it will have a greater effect than any human activites on Mount Graham.

"It's going to have some impact," Herington said. "The impact of this fire will be a lot greater than anything we've been doing on that mountain."

Fire grows in intensity

The Nuttall Fire Complex is more than 10 times the size it was Friday morning. At that time, the Gibson fire was only about 10 acres and the Nuttall fire was 1,350 acres.

The Nuttall fire grew throughout the weekend, and by the end of Sunday, it was more than 6,000 acres.

The Gibson fire grew to about 115 acres by Saturday morning, and by Sunday morning, that number grew to 4,090 acres.

The rapid growth of the Gibson fire prompted Safford resident Bruce Barton to question why nothing was done when smoke was first seen coming from the site Thursday afternoon.

"There was a small plume of smoke visible from the Valley Thursday afternoon from what is now known as the Gibson fire," he said. "Why, when the flare-up was less than half an acre didn't the Forest Service dispatch an air unit to make a simple drop at that time?

"It's not bad enough that the Nuttall Fire has consumed over 3,500 acres and is moving towards the Gibson Fire. In less than a week, nearly all of Mount Graham's forest will be destroyed."

Summerfelt said the Gibson fire had been flaring up and dying down since it was started by a lightening strike June 22. He said helicopters were making drops every time the fire flared up, but it wasn't enough.

"The Forest Service did deal with that fire with helicopters and that fire would disappear and show up periodically over a period of days," Summerfelt said. "It wasn't a matter of actions or activities not being done here."

Summerfelt said the terrain around the Gibson fire made it impossible to get people on the ground to fight the fire.

"It was far, far too steep and it was far too dangerous to put anybody in on that fire," he said. "Had we anyone in on this fire, physically, on the ground, we very well might be going to a funeral today. That was not a place to put firefighters."

Resources used

Four Military Modular Airborne Firefighting System (MMAFS) airtankers were added to the resources fighting the fire over the weekend.

The MMAFS tankers are C-130, active military cargo planes. The cargo space is converted to hold 3,000 gallons of retardant of water. The load is deployed with a pressurized system, rather than just using gravity as the other tankers do. The tankers have to refill in Phoenix after delivering each payload.

Eleven helicopters are also being used to battle the blaze. The helicopters are used to make aerial drops, as well as to ferry firefighters to and from containment lines that are difficult to reach any other way.

A portable retardant base has been set up near the eastern base of Mount Graham. The base allows helicopters to fill up on retardant at the site, and Summerfelt said it is being heavily used.

"They're actively dipping at that site," he said Sunday. "When we came by there were three helicopters stacked up waiting to get loaded."

There are also 18 Type 1 Hotshot crews, four Type 2 crews, 22 engines, five dozers and nine water tenders being used. The total number of personnel assigned to the blaze is 805.

Summerfelt said they are spending about $500,000 per day fighting the fire. He said that is largely due to the number of aircraft being used. The cost to date of the fire is $4.4 million.

To contact Greg Jones, call 428-2560 (ext. 234) or e-mail him at gjones@eacourier.com.