At this point, the Wallow Fire will be the biggest recorded wildfire to ever hit Arizona. Planned back-burning will take it beyond the size of Rodeo-Chediski Fire in 2002.

This is the largest of three active wildfires in Arizona. The Murphy Fire [68,000 acres 106 miles² 275 km²] near Tubac in Southern Arizona is 90% contained, while the Horseshoe Two Fire [141,300 acres 231 miles² 572 km²] in Southeastern Arizona is 45% contained. The Arizona Republic reports that: “Budget cuts took nearly $250,000 out of the state’s fire-suppression fund this year, and about $300,000 will be cut next year, state records show.” Not to worry, they are using Federal funds to cover the costs.*

Information from the current Wallow Fire InciWeb Page

• Date Started: 5/29/2011
• Location: Apache, Navajo, Graham, and Greenlee Counties, Arizona
• Cause: Human – under investigation
• Size: 443,989 acres [694 miles² 1797 km²] based on infrared data
• Number of Personnel: Approximately 4,311 including 24 hotshot crews and 84 hand crews
• Equipment: 27 dozers, 334 engines, 66 watertenders
• Aircraft: 15 helicopters, 5 air tankers, DC-10
• Percent Contained: 6%
• Injuries to Date: 7
• Residences: 2,714 threatened; 29 destroyed; 5 damaged
• Commercial Property: 473 threatened; 4 destroyed
• Outbuildings: 1,216 threatened; 35 destroyed; 1 damaged
• Other: 1 truck destroyed
• Incident Commander: Jim Loach, Area Command Team 3

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It’s hot again and the cats are on edge. Adrian has dissolved into a remnant low, and the local thunderstorms aren’t storming, they are just hanging around and acting tough.

In the mean time, the Republicans, aided and abetted by Zero and what passes for the Democratic Congressional leadership, are free to wander about spreading lies and misinformation about the Social Security & Medicare systems.

First off, sorry but there has been only a minimal increase in the number of years an American can expect to hang around, and some of that increase is now fading because of the tough economic times. The AVERAGE life span of Americans has increased, but, by now, I hope everyone has learned that when you read or hear the term AVERAGE, someone is trying to con you. More children are growing up rather than dying of the many diseases that were quite common when I was a child. Childhood immunization means that getting born in the US is not the coin toss that it was in the early 20^th century. This means there are more people to work and pay taxes. This is one of the things that Digby refers to as Zombie Lies.

Another point in that post is that people will get about 3 times as much money out of the system as they put in. Well, duh, if you have been paying for almost 50 years there should be some interest. With only annual compounding you triple your money in under 24 years with 5% interest. Wall Street and their minions want to give you the original principal and loot the much larger interest that has accrued.

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