Official Update ***6/22/2016 at 7:36 pm******
As of 5:00pm, the fire is at 42,802 acres with 934 fire personnel. The fire is 24% contained.
There is now a containment line on the south side of the fire and north of the Cedar Creek Community. There was little fire activity on the southernmost end of the fire.
Along the southwest side of the fire, fire personnel used aerial ignition in the area of Long Tom Canyon to create a backing fire that would minimize the effect of the wildfire. There were side pockets of fire activity within the pine strands, but the ground fuel is sparse and would not carry the fire.
The primary activity occurred on the east side of the fire within the steep canyons. With the direction of the wind out of the west, several embers crossed the 33 road and were suppressed by fire crews and helicopters. As of this time, no spot fires have become established across the 33 Road.
Objectives for night operations are to look for opportunities on the east side of the fire to safely tie into existing lined or burned areas and to mop up and monitor the spots east of the 33 road.
Show Low, Pinetop/Lakeside, Hon-dah, McNary and Cedar Creek remain under pre-evacuation notice.
I also saw a helicopter carrying something not very large in the direction of the Fire Lookout near Billy Creek in Lakeside around 5pm. (am curious as it didn’t appear to be water or slurry heading towards the fire)
And there was considerable smoke east of Lakeside up against Porter Mtn’s west side. However it didn’t appear that winds were blowing to the east. Maybe we were warned that this would occur?
Finally, are we getting any closer to ending the pre-evacuation status? I saw an official posting at Lakeside Post Office saying something to the effect of “Those wishing to evacuate may do so now to Holbrook or Roundtop.” It was a bit alarming as previously we were advised not to “self-evacuate”.