Baja Arizonans: Please Help Our Neighbors in Cochise County

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Cochise County has been dealing with wildfires for several weeks now. The most recent wildfire, the Monument Fire, has destroyed 40 homes in Ash Canyon and may pose a threat to Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca. Sierra Vista awakes to fire cloud looming nearby:

The fire currently stretches from the U.S.-Mexico border north to Miller Peak, which is 10 miles south of Sierra Vista, but it is moving north. Officials have set Ramsey Road as the northern containment point for the fire. The road is about five miles south of the heart of Sierra Vista and three miles south of Buffalo Soldier Trail.

“We are looking at how we can get ahead of this thing and finally stop it,” Poncin said. “It’s going to burn considerably further north before we have a place where we can successfully build a line and stop this thing.”

* * *

Poncin said it would be premature to say Fort Huachuca is in danger, but he acknowledged that “we are going to have our job cut out for us protecting structures as the fire burns north and comes out of these canyons.”

Firefighting crews have focused on keeping people and homes safe, hoping to prevent further loss of homes. The fire did not jump Arizona 92 on Wednesday as it did on Tuesday but officials fear it could, prompting evacuation orders for many residential neighborhoods east of Arizona 92.

* * *

All of the damaged and destroyed homes were in the Ash Canyon area, southeast of Sierra Vista in the Huachuca Mountains.

* * *

The chapel at Our Lady of the Sierras was gutted and the home of its owners was destroyed. But the giant cross remains, he said.

* * *

With the Monument Fire moving north toward Sierra Vista, the home of Southern Arizona’s largest military installation, concern is mounting over the safety of soldiers and civilian staffers, and the protection of Army facilities.

Dean Knuth, Arizona Daily Star Photo

Residents of Sierra Vista and surrounding areas are volunteering to help evacuees move belongings and animals. There is a facebook page "Monument Fire AZ" to allow local residents affected by the fire to share the latest information on the fire with one another. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Monument-fire-az/152424388163732

The Sierra Vista Herald has posted Information and help available to evacuees:

As of late late Wednesday night updates for the Monument Fire can be found on the INCIweb site at http://www.inciweb.org/

On the site, in the upper right corner select the state of Arizona. The page changes to Arizona incidents listed along the left side of the page, click on Monument.

This site will be updated as new information becomes avaliable.

Phone numbers for the public information at the Valley View Elementary School are: 520-366-0761 and 520-366-0760.

Other information and help sites are:

• Cochise County Sheriff’s Office for evacuation information — (520)-432-9500

• Sierra Vista Herald — http://svherald.com

• City of Sierra Vista — http://www.sierravistaaz.gov/

• American Red Cross — (520)-318-6740 or 1-800-341-6943

• New Frontier Animal Medical Center — (520)-234.5145

• Going to Grandmas — (520)-227.3629

• Sierra Vista Animal Hospital — (520)-458.8656

• Sierra Vista Riding Club — (520)-678.0360

• Lions Club Swap Meet, Highway 90 for RV owners — (520)-456.7816

• American Mini Storage for personal items and RVs — (520)-378.2688

While few evacuees had checked in at two area emergency shelters on Wednesday, plenty of volunteers stepped up in Sierra Vista and the donations rolled in all day long at Apache Middle School. Neighbors pitch in to help those affected by Monument Fire | The Sierra Vista Herald:

[T]he donations, which started in coming on Tuesday, never stopped.

People of all ages pitched in what they could and some even came back two or three times with loads of stuff, said Brendan Bales, a custodian with the City of Sierra Vista. “The community is coming together, it’s just amazing.”

* * *

The shelter at Apache will stay open as needed to provide a place for displaced families to stay. Any leftover donations will be used by local charities.

Apache Middle School is located at 3305 E. Fry Blvd and Palominas Elementary School is located at 10385 East Highway 92.

Baja Arizonans can help our neighbors in Cochise County by contacting the above information numbers. If anyone has additional resources for those affected by the wildfires, please post it in the coments.