Others present:  City Manager Greg Clifton; City Attorney Sterling Solomon; County Manager Steve Peru

Chairwoman Horstman and Mayor Deasy offered opening remarks and words of gratitude to all who were working on the fire.
 
County Manager Steve Peru stated that there was a community meeting that evening at 6:00 p.m. at Sinagua High School. He introduced members of Incident Management Team (IMT), Bret Axelund with the Coconino County Sherriff’s Office, Wes Deason with Coconino County Emergency Management, Stacey Brechler-Knaggs with City of Flagstaff Emergency Management, Fire Chief Mark Gaillard, Steven Fillmore and Scott Grasmere with the California Interagency Incident Management Team 15, Nick Clinton with the Coconino National Forest. The following updates were provided:

• An IMT team was mobilizing to Arizona to prepare for fire season when the fire started on Sunday.
• A new IMT team will be coming in on Thursday, June 16, 2022.
• Monday, June 13, 2022, was a very dynamic day with terrible conditions.
• The primary focus has been property protection.
• The original location of the fire was in a banned fire area.
• Criminal charges have been filed federally, and state charges will be filed soon.
• The Coconino National Forest is working on moving forward with a full forest closure.
• The Burned Area Emergency Response team is preparing for post-fire response.
• Review of the areas that are at SET and GO status.
• One residential structure and one outbuilding have been burned.
• Financial tracking was ongoing to assist in reimbursement opportunities.
• Emergency declarations also assist in obtaining resources from the state.
• There was not significant public infrastructure damage, which limits available resources.
• They expected potential for thunderstorms later in the week which could have localized heavy rainfall and flooding.
• Buffalo Park has been closed down and is being used for staging.
• There had been great coordination with the teams who had come in.

Supervisor Begay asked how much of the Tunnel Fire area was reburned. Mr. Grasmere stated that the fire did push into the Tunnel Fire burn scar but a lot of the stuff that reburned was needle cast from the prior fire. A very rough estimate was about six acres and low intensity.
 
Supervisor Vasquez asked if there were any cost estimates for fire response. Mr. Deason stated that it is not yet known, most of the invoicing had not been available yet to finance, but more information would be coming.
 
Supervisor Vasquez asked about the impact to the different watersheds and when they could expect that analysis. Deputy County Manager Lucinda Andreani stated that the engineering team had already met to begin the process. They had not received burn severity maps yet, so they were running models with a variety of assumptions. They were expecting significant flood threat impacts to the watersheds into Highway 180 and the Rio de Flag. Sandbags had been ordered, and they were working to mobilize resources.
 
Mayor Deasy stated that there had been reports of people not getting the emergency messages. He asked if the IPAWS system required people to have their location services on. Mr. Deason stated that it does not require location services, it would distribute to anyone who was connected to a cell tower. They are careful and specific where they send the messages; they target the messages to those who are directly affected.
 
Supervisor Fowler stated that there had been areas on the Navajo Nation that had to be evacuated near Grand Falls due to the negative health impacts of the smoke. There were community health representatives going door to door with law enforcement and social services. She expressed concerns about Leupp Road due to Highway 89 being closed. There were a lot of people who worked in Flagstaff and drove from elsewhere, so it would be important to keep the area open and notify as far in advance as possible if the road would be closed. She also noted that the power was going in and out in Tuba City, so there had been close coordination with APS to notify the community. Recognizing that the fire impacts go beyond the burning area, she asked that those impacts be reported out in future updates. She stated that the Navajo Nation had extended their help and wanted to offer any way to be of service. It is important to work together to make sure all the appropriate messaging is going out.
 
The Council and the Board of Supervisors expressed deep appreciation for all those who were working on the fire. Continued communication and the coordination of public and private entities show the dedication to protecting and preserving life, property, and natural resources.