United Way of Northern Arizona — Once Again, Our Community Is Burning

For the past 12 years, the names have accumulated like a litany of destruction: Schultz. Slide. Tinder. Museum. Tunnel.

Now, less than two months after the last major wildfire left our mountains glowing red at night and our skies dark with smoke during the day, we have two more names to add to this sad list – Pipeline and Haywire.

The situation northeast of Flagstaff is still very fluid. The latest statistics from InciWeb (the US Forest Service site that tracks wildfires nationwide) indicate that 20,000 acres have burned in the Pipeline Fire with another 4,000 charred by Haywire.

Evacuation statuses have shifted back and forth as officials receive more information, but even those who were allowed to return to their homes Tuesday were warned to be ready to leave again at a moment’s notice. At this point, we know two structures have burned since Sunday.

As we wait for more information, we wanted to do two things. The first is to share with you a much happier, more inspiring list – a thank you to the individuals, organizations, and businesses who have been Stepping Up for Our Community during this long fire season.

Our heartfelt gratitude goes to W.L. Gore & Associates, which held a second workplace campaign recently specifically for the UWNA Crisis Response Fund. We also want to thank other businesses that gave generously to this fund, like Nestle Purina, Snowbowl, Northern Arizona University, Suddenlink, and OneAZ.

Then there were the hundreds of you who gave individual donations. Big and small, those dollars meant we could help families during the weeks after the Tunnel Fire. Dozens of you also sacrificed your Saturdays to do the hard cleanup work after that blaze.

Which brings us to the second reason for this email. Once again, we need to ask for your help in whatever form you can provide it. We don’t know what the final cost of Pipeline and Haywire will be – or if more names will be joining the list of wildfires impacting our region this year.

If you can, please consider a gift to the UWNA Crisis Response Fund. All monies donated to the fund go to those in crisis from fire, floods, the pandemic or other emergencies.

If you’d prefer to donate your time, we’d love to add you to our list of volunteers. In fact, we will be having an unrelated volunteer event this weekend. Because even as we are keeping an eye out for those being affected by this week’s fires, we still have to work to make sure we are ready for potential flooding during the upcoming monsoons.

This Saturday, we will be hosting a Museum Fire Flood Mitigation work event to remove old sandbags and rebuild sandbag walls in Sunnyside. To be honest, this is heavy, dirty work, but it so necessary to protect our neighbors. Volunteers need to be at least 18 years of age and be able to lift 30 pounds.

We’ll be meeting at the UWNA office (1515 E. Cedar Ave., Suite D-1) at 7:30 am. Please come for as long as you are able and please pre-register on Volunteer Hub to let us know you are coming. If you have difficulty registering, give our office a call at (928) 773-9813.

The only silver lining from the string of crises we have faced together is that it has proved, time and time again, that our region is filled with people who Live United. Thank you for Stepping Up for Your Community once again.