FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Calls to report a wildfire west of Flagstaff went unanswered for about 12 hours because the U.S. Forest Service dispatch center was closed and calls went to a voicemail box instead of an answering service.
Residents of the Spring Valley area near Parks complained at a meeting Friday night that the delay in answering their calls allowed the fire to grow, then be whipped out of control on Wednesday.
Forest Service officials say the callers should have dialed 911 instead of the dispatch center on Tuesday night.
The calls to the Forest Service dispatch center should have been forwarded to the answering service, fire information officer Deirdre McLaughlin said Saturday. Instead, they were not heard until the center reopened on Saturday. McLaughlin said that was a breakdown, but that anyone who urgently needed to report and emergency should have continued to try to reach a person.
High winds pushed the flames from the Eagle Rock fire out of control on Wednesday, and homes in the Spring Valley area were evacuated.
In all, probably 11 or 12 homes were in the part of Spring Valley that was evacuated, but a larger number of structures of all types were previously counted. Nearly all the residents have been allowed to return home.
“I’ve understood there are about six people who called it in on Tuesday,” said resident Bob Mayhew, who lives about a half-mile from where the wildfire started.
The Forest Service contends it received fewer calls.
The fire consumed about 3,400 acres of mostly ponderosa pine and conifer in the Kaibab (KY’-bab) National Forest, about 11 miles northeast of Williams. It was about 40 percent contained at midday Saturday and fire activity was light, but winds were picking up.