PHOTOS: Smoke rising from a forest is ominous. Often it is the first alarm of another wildfire sparked by lightning or carelessness; a wildfire that potentially could become catastrophic and deadly.
On Aug. 16, 2023, the residents of Poderosa and Colcord Estates and neighboring towns on the Tonto National Forest Payson Ranger District felt that foreboding when they looked to the skies and saw rising smoke. That evening, smoke began wafting through ponderosa pine 11 miles northeast of Young, Arizona, and 27 miles east of Payson. The smoke’s source was the lightning-caused Valentine Fire.
The Valentine Fire burned in a location and under specific weather conditions that allowed fire managers an opportunity.