in early July
asking that it restrict trail access to both mountains when temperatures exceed 105 degrees.
The letter came after 12 firefighters were sent home for heat-related issues after doing three rescues on both mountains back-to-back. Two of the firefighters ended up being hospitalized with acute renal failure from dehydration and exhaustion.
The board then enacted a pilot program in mid-July restricting trail access when the National Weather Service has an excessive heat watch in effect. The program will run from July 16 through Sept. 30, after which the board
will review if it needs to alter any aspects of the policy.
Parks spokesperson: Trails will still be open in morning, evening
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Thin rows of rocks now form a 19 just off Trail 100 in the Dreamy Draw Recreation Area in the Phoenix Mountains Preserve.
GilBride said the previous tribute, created over the years by hikers, was a much larger pile of rocks fashioned into a 19 that measured about four feet long and a foot high. The rocks honor the 19 hotshots who died in the Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013.
GilBride said he was pleased to see the new formation already taking shape as he hiked the area with a friend this week. As I was coming up on it the other day, I was like, Dude, there’s something there! he said.
This is the last weekend to have fires in desert parks and mountain preserves in the city of Phoenix. A fire ban will go into effect May 1.
The city will ban fires in parks that have natural areas like hiking trails.
Parks Department spokesman Gregg Bach says the fire ban is necessary as wildfire season approaches.
He says low humidity, the increase in temperatures, dry vegetation and seasonal winds are all factors on why the fires are banned.
Bach says visitors can still use certain types of grills.
“We do have some established ramada and picnic areas, and so people would be able to use a propane or a gas grill in those designated picnic areas. But we’re prohibiting anything that would be an open wood or charcoal fire in those areas,” Bach said.
No record of authorization for the March 2020 delivery exists, and nearly a year later, the city remains coy about who approved it.
The material was dumped in huge mounds and alongside roads not far from the park entrance in what seemed a haphazard fashion to some. The activists claimed that the material contained residue of petrochemicals, but city officials deny it s contaminated.
City leaders consider the case closed. The Parks and Recreation Department said through a spokesperson that the delivery from Maracay had been long-planned, that the material was clean, and that by now it has all been dispersed throughout the park and used for building erosion-control structures.
As Scottsdale resident Arthur Deal walks along a perimeter construction fence cutting through Papago Park, he shows off a picture of his grandfather on horse back on the same land