August 17, 2011 • Vol. 09, No. 36
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Anthem • Black Canyon City • Carefree • Cave Creek • Desert Hills • New River • N. Phoenix • Tramonto
Vehicle, brush fire brings northbound I-17 traffic to halt MARC BUCKHOUT MANAGING EDITOR
Marc Buckhout/The Foothills Focus
A commercial vehicle carrying hay northbound on I-17 caught fire at approximately 5:15 p.m. Friday leading to a series of brush fires along the freeway. The truck finally came to a stop just south of Sunset Point where fire personnel from Black Canyon City, with the help of Daisy Mountain Fire Department, Mayor Fire Department as well as the Yavapai Fire Department attended to the fires. Northbound traffic on I-17 was stopped for approximately three hours, causing a traffic backups of more than 20 miles.
A commercial vehicle carrying hay northbound on I-17 caught fire just south of Sunset Point at approximately 5:15 p.m. Friday. Black Canyon Fire Chief Thomas Birch said he headed north after receiving the call that a vehicle was on fire. “I got on the freeway heading north at mile marker 247 and saw a line of smoke that appeared to be at least a mile long,” he said. “It wasn’t that windy so that didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Then I arrived in the initial area and there were bails of hay burning in the middle
of the freeway, which had some vehicles stopped. I drove around that hay and continued north where I found more and more bails of hay showering the freeway with flames, but still no sign of the vehicle.” Birch said he passed the Bumble Bee exit, where he saw more fires, before finally catching up to the vehicle at mile marker 251, one mile south of Sunset Point. It was at that point that he got the driver of the vehicle to pull his vehicle off the road. “From what I was told later by DPS officers the driver felt that his best chance to get the fire out was to try and get to Sunset
Point where he thought he could get water,” Birch said. The hay from the truck caught the grass in the median, between north and southbound traffic, on fire. “That could have turned into an enormous fire, especially considering the conditions,” Birch said. “The potentials are extreme.” Along with the Black Canyon Fire Department Birch called in assistance from Daisy Mountain Fire Department, Mayor Fire Department as well as Yavapai Fire Department.
FIRE
continued on page 6
Cactus Shadows expects continuation of program’s success Marc Buckhout MANAGING EDITOR
Over the course of the last three seasons the Cactus Shadows Falcons volleyball team has gone 78-31 with a state finals appearance in 2009 and a state semifinals bid in 2010. So you’ll have to excuse coach Tom Gardner if he doesn’t get real worked up by the AIA’s realignment, which has created quite a shift from previous seasons. “I think I saw that you now have 51 teams competing for 16 state playoff spots where I believe it was 32 last season,” he said. “Every year our goal is to finish high in the power points. We expect to host a first round state playoff match and if things
Inside:
go our way host a second round match as well.” Last year’s 27-10 squad rolled through the regular season. For the second straight season though the Falcons would run into their arch nemesis, the Sunnyslope Vikings. A season after falling to Sunnyslope in the 4A Div-I state championship match, the Falcons saw the Phoenix squad end their season in the state semifinals. Senior outside hitter Suzi DeSalvo said she and her teammates have a number of goals, but beating the Vikings, who they face Sept. 6 at home and Oct. 13 on the road, is high up on the list. “We’ve done well at state, but they’ve kept us from our goals,” she said. “I think getting close
OUTDOORS:
like we have gives us the drive to want it more. I like this year’s team. We talk on the court. We have chemistry. Our passers are good hitters and our hitters are good passers. I think we have a lot of strengths.” Gardner acknowledges that graduation robbed the program of some of its best defensive talent in Jordan Smith, Summer Anderson and size at the net in Shan England, but he said the program is built in such a way that there is always talent waiting in the wings. “I think this group has more vocal leaders,” he said. “We lost two big hitters (Anderson, England) but I think we have a
CACTUS SHADOWS
continued on page 5
SPORTS:
Marc Buckhout/The Foothills Focus
Cactus Shadows senior Suzi DeSalvo and the rest of the Falcons will look to continue the program’s run of success coming off a 27-10 record in 2010 that included a trip to the 4A Div-I state semifinals. To view more photos of this year’s team go to The Foothills Focus Facebook page at facebook.com/TheFoothills.Focus.
BUSINESS:
OTHER :
New legislation changes boundaries for bird hunting
Boulder Creek volleyball sets sights on 2011 success
Cave Creek WalMart begins hiring process for new store
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