April 19-20, 2022 Prescott, Arizona
I never thought this would happen to me yet knew it was a possiblity living the full-time RV lifestyle in the outdoors.
Early Fire Season in Arizona
Every year, when the weather dries up out in the western states, there’s the anticipation and fear of where will the next wildfire hit. Everyone out west begins to prepare for bad air quality and closed sections of the outdoors. But even worse, many lose their lives or homes.
Fire season is in the western states is a harsh reality of living or visiting states like California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, New Mexico and Utah.
Arizona’s fire season should start in May yet with the lack of decent precipitation in the last few years it seems the 2022 fire season started early and we were caught up in the first big AZ wildfire of the year – the Crooks fire.
It Was the Start of a Perfect Hiking Day
The morning started out literally perfect. Coffee, breakfast and sunshine up in the Prescott Forest. It was going to be a great hike day for sure!
- Be sure to read Boondock Camping and Hiking in Prescott Arizona
With our hiking shoes on and day packs ready with water, snacks and emergency gear we headed to hike Spruce Mountain trail.
We were gone from the RV maybe 4 hours as we headed back yet were stopped about a mile from Minnie Rambles, the RV.
Finding Out My Home Was in Danger
My gut sank seeing all the fire and law enforcement vehicles lining the dirt road and the lot that seemed to be a makeshift headquarters. “Something’s up and it’s not good” I remember thinking.
I didn’t remember seeing smoke from the top of the fire tower while on our hike but maybe I just wasn’t looking for it.
The sheriff stopped us. “Where ya headed?” he asked. “To our RV parked about a mile up.”
This was the moment my heart sank. The sheriff replied that we couldn’t head back, he needed to keep the road clear for emergency vehicles. With my voice wavering I told him the RV is our home and we’re not that far back.
He firmly, yet kindly looked at me and said he can’t let us through.
We asked a few questions we knew he wouldn’t or couldn’t answer but asked anyway, turned around and headed down into Prescott.
I was distraught. What about my home? The “what ifs” where crowding my head.
There was nothing we could do but wait at a local park.
Thankful for Law Enforcement and Fire Crews
John called the dispatch a few times to get updates yet like the sherriff they kindly and patiently let us know they’d call us when we could return to retrieve the RV.
After a couple of hours of watching the smoke in the distance grow I started to accept in my head that my home may be destroyed by fire. I also wondered if I should make motel reservations for that evening.
Luckily, Prescott, Arizona seems to have the most kind law enforcement around because they did take the time to let us know when we could return to retrieve the RV after a few hours.
What a relief!
We left the park and headed straight back to the RV to pack it up in record time.
We stayed the next 2 nights at the Findlay Toyota Center, where a shelter had been set up for evacuees, watching the plume of smoke just southwest of us grow with the high winds. It was heartbreaking thinking of anyone losing their lives or homes to this devastation.
I’m thankful for the hard work the law enforcement and fire crews do to keep us as safe as possible during devastating moments like these.
As of the publishing of this post the Crooks fire burned over 9400 acres in the Prescott Forest with 96% containment. The cause is still undetermined.
