I hope it's OK to post this here:

Cave Creek, AZ is a horse town and the residents here are being tested. The news of our 2,000+ acre fire two weeks ago didn’t make it beyond the local the news, but 40 horses were evacuate and 60 families. The mandatory evac order lasted 3 days. It is reported (unconfirmed by me) that the fire started because of a spark from a weed whacker. No horses, other pets, lives or structures were lost. Due to circumstances with my animals I did not evacuate.

Around noon on Saturday, May 30th another fire broke out because someone was welding pipe (this is what the cop told me when he came to the house to see if I was going to evacuate for this fire). Saturday was an extreme weather alert day and high wind advisory ---perfect day to weld!!!!

This fire is far more dangerous than the one two weeks ago. My phone battery was dead cuz the power was off from Saturday about 1 pm till 10:30 Sun night. Power poles burned and live wires were on the ground till APS could arrive. Two horses were electrocuted by the live wires before they could be rescued. But the sheriff’s department and a group of horse owners are doing a great job --- that is not a snark comment. I live at the end of town (where the fire was heading) and several trucks and horse trailers stopped to ask if I wanted the horses evacuated. One horse was evacuated, the others stayed here on property with me. Their arthritic issues prevent them from stepping up into a trailer. So I brought out the hoses and was prepared to keep them safe in the arena.


Sat. night I sat on my back porch watching one of the houses on the next street over burn down. I have heard that 14 houses have burned (unconfirmed, it may be more.) In the afternoon, when I saw a plume of black smoke billowing up the road towards my home and animals the shit got real. Then suddenly, like on a conveyor belt, for ten minutes the slurry planes and helicopters carrying water buckets turned and flew incredibly low over my barn to drop their loads on the plume of black smoke heading my way. If they had not gotten this portion under control there was no hope of controlling any part of the fire. Kudos again to the fire crews.
The fire and smoke was pretty much out by Sun night so I was surprised when I saw a huge plume of fresh black smoke in the direction of the town when I took my one dog for a walk this AM (Monday). My phone’s battery had recharged and calls from friends started coming in on my walk – the feed store in town was on fire – arson. This feed store is a building that’s older than the town so it was of historical importance. It is unconfirmed but the news I am hearing is that the dark web was telling people to come to Cave Creek to loot and arson and I heard about an hour ago that they caught two people who started the fire and that they’re connected to Antifa (not confirmed by me.)

Cave Creek residents have a FB page. I think it’s Cave Creek Infamous Blog in case you want to follow. I don’t go on FB.


There are not enough words to express the gratitude to be given the fire and air emergency crews and APS for their work.
Just wanting to let you know what’s going on. I’m off to fix some spaghetti cuz you can eat it hot or cold. I expect there will be more power shortages before this is over and our future holds more extreme heat days. I have set the AC for 74 degrees cuz I want the house to be cooled down in the event of another power shortage. The house has been over 85 degrees without the AC power to cool it. The evac order started Saturday and I hear will remain in effect for another 72 hours from today. People’s businesses are destroyed. One business owner could not pay the insurance due to the lack of business due to COVID and his inventory burned to the ground.

The priority in Cave Creek is our horses and other animals. Cave Creek may be a politically red town but we don’t hunker to anyone or anything threatening our animals.

Send good vibes and keep us in your thoughts.