By Nazih Hazime, Fire Chief
Verde Valley Fire District
Cottonwood AZ (June 21, 2016) – The Verde Valley Fire District is actively working at the Cedar Wildfire near Show Low. We have 2 personnel, 1 Engineer and a Firefighter deployed to this large wildfire. They responded with a 3 thousand gallon Water Tender. They will probably be deployed for an allowable time of 14 days due to the size of the fire which is 26,000 acres.
Photos shown are from far away which gives you a good idea of the size and the other photo shows a Type 2 helicopter reloading from a water tank. This helicopter holds 15,000 gallons of water and is utilized for air water drops. The water tank the helicopter is drafting from is what our Water Tender supplies with water. This is one operation of many that is required to fight such a fire. This is the only wildfire deployment VVFD is currently supporting but the second deployment so far this season.
