Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 15

THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC VALLEY STATE TUESDAY, JUNE 21, 201 1 B3 McCain faces uproar over his immigrant-wildfire link Evacuees stepping forward to volunteer Many forced to leave homes amid fire now help others (TfF In fact, a guy from the LaL3 Forest Service had briefed me tint there was a problem with illegal immigrants starting fires. SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, R-ARIZ. Explaining his remarks from Saturday DONATE TO FIRE VICTIMS Here are some organizations assisting victims of the Monument Fire: Real Wishes Foundation, Monument Fire Relief Fund, co Wells Fargo Bank, Account 91 52645173, is accepting financial donations to help shelter people displaced by the Monument Fire. Red Cross of Southern Arizona, 520-3 1 9-3673, www.redcrossarizona.org, is accepting financial donations to aid disaster victims.

Arizona Humane Society "desperately" needs large-breed wire dog kennels, towels and light blankets. It will send supplies and volunteers to the fire areas indefinitely. Residents of surrounding communities interested in helping can stop by the temporary shelter in Huachuca City to walk dogs and clean animals. Monetary donations are accepted at www.az humane.orgwildfire. By Dan Nowicki and Dennis Wagner The Arizona Republic Sen.

John McCain on Monday sought to extinguish a political inferno that erupted over the weekend when he said illegal immigrants and drug smugglers likely had started some wildfires in Arizona. McCain set off the controversy with remarks Saturday at a news conference in Springerville after touring the devastation of the Wallow Fire with Sen. Jon Kyi and Reps. Jeff Flake and Paul Gosar, all Arizona Republicans. But his comments, which referred generally to wildfires that have burned closer to the U.S.-Mexico border, were met with blowback from critics who demanded he cough up proof of illegal-immigrant involvement in any blazes.

Arizona is struggling with multiple fires, including the Wallow Fire in the east and the Monument and Horseshoe Two fires in the southern part of the state. Heidi Schewel, a spokeswoman for Cor-onado National Forest, said investigators believe the Monument and Horseshoe Two blazes were human-caused, but they do not know how they started or who was responsible. Referring to the Monument blaze, which began near the border either just inside Coronado National Memorial or just south of it in Mexico, Schewel said: "The cause of the fire has not been determined. Until the investigation is completed, we will not speculate." McCain told The Arizona Republic on Monday that he was stunned by the reaction. His Senate office released congressional testimony dating to 2006 that warned of illegal immigrants setting fires in national forests.

In July 2010, McCain, Kyi and two other senators asked the U.S. Government Accountability Office to investigate wildfires set by illegal immigrants and smugglers within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. The report is expected this year. "I thought everybody knew that it was a problem," McCain told The Republic. "In fact, a guy from the Forest Service had briefed me and Congressman Flake just before that press conference that there was a problem with illegal immigrants starting fires." Monday, McCain was blasted by a member of Arizona's Capitol Hill delegation.

"Every misfortune is blamed on undocumented immigrants," Rep. Raul Gri-jalva, said in a written statement. "Senator McCain's comments continue to provoke an extreme anti-immigrant and anti-Latino atmosphere in Arizona." McCain insists that he never suggested the Wallow Fire, far from the border, was started by illegal immigrants. "I said 'some of the but I certainly ByJJHensley The Arizona Republic SIERR A VISTA They have become a community of evacuees and volunteers, with many wearing both hats. Harold Graham, an evacuee who lives in the Nicksville area south of town where some buildings were destroyed Sunday afternoon, wants to join the swelling ranks of Sierra Vista volunteers, even though he does not know whether his home is standing, damaged or destroyed.

"When push comes to shove, people here dig deep and it always comes back to that value: If I can help someone, I will," Graham said. "If somebody else needs help, if somebody else needs comfort, that's what I want to do." With an estimated 3,000 homes and nearly 12,000 residents evacuated in the Sierra Vista area, there are plenty of people who need help. Dozens of organizations and businesses in the community have stepped forward to help their neighbors, despite the fact that many of the individuals volunteering are themselves in a time of crisis. Few groups exemplify that spirit like the Real Wishes Foundation, a non-profit group of Realtors in Sierra Vista founded to help those in need. Since the Monument Fire began forcing evacuations and destroying homes last week, that's meant trying to find housing for a handicapped evacuee, shoes for a diabetic who lost his home and cash donations for anything else that might arise.

"When everything settles down, the people who've lost their homes, food, equipment, utensils, whatever they need, we're going to help them out and see how far it goes," said Deb DeShae, a volunteer with the group who worked at an evacuation center Saturday trying to line up evacuees with vacant apartments in the area. "As soon as this started happening, we had agents saying, 'I have a room in my and we had property managers that said, 'If someone needs a place, I can put them in a DeShae said. No where is that spirit more evident than at Apache Middle School, the evacua-' tion center that Gov. Jan Brewer visited last week. Gabe Saba, 15, evacuated his family's home on Thursday afternoon, rounding up three dogs including a neighbor's three cats and his 13-year-old brother in about 30 minutes.

Saba spent Saturday sorting donated clothes at the school. "I just thought people were in need, people less fortunate than me who lost their homes," said Saba, who believed his house was still standing. "I just wanted to help." The school transformed into an evacuation center in a matter of hours and has be- did not in any way convey the impression that the Wallow Fire was caused by that," McCain said. At the news conference Saturday, a journalist asked McCain how he explains massive, record-setting blazes such as the Wallow Fire and "how do you fix this from "Well, first of all, we are concerned about, particularly areas down on the border, where there is substantial evidence that some of these fires are caused by people who have crossed our border illegally," McCain answered. "They have set fires because they want to signal others, they have set fires to keep warm and they have set fires in order to divert law-enforcement agents and agencies from them.

So the answer to that part of the problem is get a secure border." A follow-up question asked if McCain could identify which fires were set by illegal immigrants. "All kinds," McCain replied, but he added, "I can't give you names." At that point, Kyi volunteered the first Horseshoe Fire in southeastern Arizona, in 2010, as one possibility. McCain said Monday he has. learned from Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever that there is speculation that illegal immigrants may have been involved with the Monument Fire near Sierra Vista. Forest Service officials said Monday they have no evidence that illegal border crossers set any of the wildfires in southern Arizona, and a U.S.

Border Patrol spokesman said there is no history of smugglers igniting blazes. Without checking countless investigative records, Schewel said she could not say whether any wildfires have been set in recent years by drug or human smugglers. But Dale Thompson, another Coronado National Forest spokesman, said he thinks "the probability is pretty darned high" that illegal border crossers may have built "warming fires" that spawned the Monument and Horseshoe Two fires. Dever could not be reached for comment Monday, but spokeswoman Carol Ca-pas said natural causes were ruled out in the southern Arizona blazes. Mario Escalante, a Border Patrol spokesman for the Tucson Sector, questioned any scenario involving smugglers and "warming fires," or blazes set for diversionary purposes.

come the receiving point for the community's outpouring of support. Pallets of donated bottled water sit stacked 5 feet high. Thousands of snack bags from Target sit ready for evacuees. Local restaurants and chains provide daily meals. The.

local domestic-violence shelter donated the first round of clothing, which took up a classroom and was being sorted by volunteers and evacuees. "I'm willing to say probably every business in the community has done something," said Sierra Vista Public Works Director Mike Hemesath. "I knew we'd get good donations and good support, but when you come around and see what's being donated and how much, it's amazing, and it doesn't stop." On Saturday, volunteers at the center offered a spa day complete with haircuts, massages and acupuncture treatments. As the fire grew on Sunday and mandatory evacuation orders spread to more residents, Chris Snow and her daughter brought animal crates to the school, sure that they would be needed before the end of the day. In fact, the Arizona Humane Society's emergency-response team, which had been finding new homes for animals displaced by the Wallow Fire, has now deployed to Huachuca City.

The organization set up a temporary shelter for the Monument Fire's displaced pets at 562 E. Highway 82, taking in 84 pets in just 2 Vi hours Sunday. Snow knows everyone is at risk. "It could be us." Snow said as she watched the Huachuca Mountains spew thick black smoke Sunday afternoon. "It could be any of us." Brush fire on Gila River Reservation Walker of the Phoenix Fire Department said it could have reached up to 75 acres.

Clinical Study Crews from the Phoenix and Gila River fire departments initially fought the blaze Proves Effectiveness By Matt Haldane The Arizona Republic-12 News Breaking News Team Fire crews were battling a brush fire that broke out on the Gila River Indian Reservation in the southwest Valley on Monday afternoon. Estimates of the size of the blaze at 75th Avenue and Elliot Road varied. Scott using water drops and controlled burns be fore turning over management of the fight to state authorities, Walker said. No structures were in danger and no in juries were reported. However, Poyas said, when she turned from the east to the west, she was encour aged.

"The west side has fared beautifully, it is green and gorgeous. It is still Greer," she said. "We are still here." Of Powerful IIcvj Weight Loss Formula Mangodrin is breaking new ground in weight loss. In 5 published double blind placebo controlled studies, subjects taking Mangodrin's primary ingredient, IGOB131 Irvingia Gabonenis, (African Mango) lost an average of 6.7 inches from their waist, 18.4 body fat and 28 lbs. in just 1 0 weeks! That same sense of hope was evident in the dozens of Sierra Vista-area residents who lined up to return to their homes Monday afternoon.

The Cochise County Sheriff's Office of fered restricted-access permits to more than 100 homeowners who fled the blaze a week ago. David and Raquel Klein were excited at the prospect of going home, but the houses destroyed in Ash Canyon tempered their enthusiasm. "We feel blessed just to have a home," David said. Sherry Hunter, chief of the Palominas Fire District, where residents lined up for For more info 855-266-3478 their permits, said firefighters faced bru tal conditions as they battled the blaze. Stopping the flames as they roared through high grass and weeds was like "trying to stop a tidal wave with a spoon," Wildfires Continued from B1 off Sierra Vista and Fort Huachuca from additional danger that the volatile fire could pose.

"Thank Mother Nature for giving us this break. But I would also like to credit the hard work of our firefighters out there," Incident Commander Greg Poncin said. While conceding that homes and businesses were lost Sunday, Poncin said, "How many structures were saved is really quite phenomenal. Credit goes to those hard-working folks out there who put it all on the line yesterday." That news comes too late for many in the Sierra Vista area, including Justin Michaels, whose family's home was incinerated last week. Like many residents, Michaels got his first up-close look at the Monument Fire's destructive power on Monday when law enforcement escorted his family into Ash Canyon to see what was left of their home.

"It was devastating, honestly, and we were ready for it. We even took a drive down the road to look at the surroundings," Michaels said. "I went up to a handrail and asked my mom, 'What does that go The rail was all that remained of the family's back porch. A similar scene played out hundreds of miles to the north as Greer residents returned to see what was left of their White Mountain hamlet, where more than 20 homes and cabins were destroyed in the Wallow Fire, which is 56 percent contained. Fire officials expected 500 to 600 people to return to Greer, with a town meeting scheduled Monday night.

However, Greer Fire Chief Mark Wade would not allow media into the community on Monday. Residents said about 10 homes burned along East Fork Canyon. The Amberian Peaks Lodge and Restaurant was among the buildings saved by wildland firefighters, but owner Ann Poyas was still stunned by the destruction around her. "The ones (houses) that burnt just burnt to ashes," she said. "Where there once were trees, there are black sticks now." she said.

Blocks Absorption of Unwanted Carbohydrates Increases Metabolism and Energy Naturally Fights Cravings with Powerful Appetite Control Lose up to 28 lbs. in 10 weeks "This is the most devastating thing this community has ever had to deal with," Hunter added. The Monument Fire has charred nearly 27,000 acres since it was spotted a little more than a week ago and is 27 percent contained after the weather finally cooperated and allowed firefighters to attack the blaze Monday. available at: After 50 mph winds shut down air operations on Sunday and blew the blaze out of a canyon, helicopters and air tankers were once again a constant presence in the sky 4' OiNiKAl NUTRITION CiNTIRf I above Sierra Vista on Monday. 16785 Fire officials expect the weather to again work in their favor today, with relatively low winds and higher humidity increasing the possibility that more evacuees can return home sometime in the OFF 0 4 -SSV near future.

Mark Goeller, operations chief the fire, said crews were attacking the GNC Store: Process as a GNC Coupon Enter trie GNC coupon number at the Coupon Number prompt Offer valid at select GNC stores and on GNC com Offer may not combine with any other promotions or discounts (except Gold Card discount) One-time use only per person One coupon per person. Coupon must be presented at time of purchase, redeemable in the Void where prohibited, taxed or restncted by law. Valid on the following items: Mangodrin (468800) or Mangodrin SF (468801) For more information call 855-266-3478 blaze with one goal. "We're working hard," he told residents These statements nave nol been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure of prevent any disease at a Monday meeting. "Hopefully, we can 9.

get you guys back in your homes, and ev erybody'll be safe.".