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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A few staggering statistics on the Arizona wildfire

Out today:
  • It's the 2nd largest wildfire in all of Arizona's history;
  • It began a little more than a week ago;
  • It has consumed 311,481 acres since it started May 29;
  • Roughly 2,500 firefighters, including many from several Western states and as far away as New York, are working to contain the blaze;
  • Two other fires--besides this one--have blackened large portions of the state;
  • Haze was being carried by a ridge of high pressure as far as central Iowa, said Kyle Fredin, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Denver. The smoke was also visible in New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska and, yes, our own Kansas;
  • The fire is considered totally uncontained;
  • The fire is growing;
  • It has driven thousands from their homes in eastern Arizona and grown to 486 square miles;
  • It is bearing down on two of the most populous towns in the mountains.

2 comments:

The Observer said...

Basically this fire is the size of the Kansas City metro, or New Orleans metro. To give that more depth, I can tell you that it is 65 miles or so from KCI to 140th St. in Olathe. The amount of real estate covered here is mind blowing!

:Mo Rage said...

Thanks for the input. It seemed like, as you put it, mind-blowing to me but I couldn't really tell the size of it from their description.