The Slide Fire Story: A Photographic Tribute to Oak Creek Canyon

The Slide Fire Story: A Photographic Tribute to Oak Creek Canyon opened to rave reviews at the renowned Museum of Northern Arizona in mid-January.  The dramatic exhibit of photography from the 2014 Slide Fire was organized by the Rotary clubs of Sedona to support firefighter training and disaster relief for the beautiful Oak Creek Canyon that spans the 25 miles between Sedona and Flagstaff.

 

The catalyst for the exhibition was the tragic fire that raced up historic Oak Creek Canyon in late May and early June of 2014.  While the residents of Sedona, Flagstaff and the connecting Oak Creek Canyon struggled to find a way to support and honor the work of the firefighters and the Forest Service, the Sedona Rotary clubs stepped into the void.  Working together with a handful of community recruits the clubs created an exhibition of breathtaking and horrific forest-fire and fire-impact photography taken by firefighters on the fire-line as well as by professional and amateur lensmen from the two communities.

 

Smoke, ash and the risk of fires were still menacing the two communities and the fire was still a week away from being extinguished when the Clubs began planning the exhibition of photography from the fire in June of last year.  Eventually the exhibition expanded to include awe-inspiring and emotion-charged video of the fire and smoke that billowed from the Canyon, powerful poetry and even a piano composition that was inspired by the impact of the fire.

 

The Slide Fire scorched over 25 thousand acres of forest in the Canyon and forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents who live along Oak Creek.  For over two weeks in the spring of 2014 residents of two neighborhoods in Flagstaff were on notice that they might be ordered to leave their homes with as little as 10 minutes notice should the fire turn and accelerate.  Flagstaff and Sedona residents spent day after day choking on smoke and ash from the largest fire in the recorded history of the Coconino National Forest.  But even after the fire was extinguished the concerns continued.  Fire, emergency and forest personnel immediately began to prepare for and attempt to mitigate against the flooding that often follows a significant fire.  While the fire itself was the bigger concern for Flagstaff, Sedona lies at the lower end of the Canyon, making post-fire flooding an ongoing concern for the tourist destination.

 

Earth scorched by fires like the Slide Fire become eight times less likely to absorb rainfall.  Fire debris and damaged vegetation can also create accidental dams in Oak Creek that can release a surge of water when and if they break -- threatening properties and communities that lie downstream.

 

The Slide Fire Story represented the largest ever collaboration between the two Sedona Rotary Clubs.  Members of the Clubs donated funds to create the exhibition, gathered over 500 photographs from more than 60 photographers, recruited volunteers from the community to assemble and promote the exhibition and solicited sponsors for the event.  Rotarians and community supporters curated the exhibit, arranged for the production and mounting of over 100 photos and story-boards, staged the exhibit and acted as hosts and docents for the exhibition. The Sedona Arts Center served as the first exhibition venue.   Over 1000 visitors in July, 2014 viewed the dramatic photography a mere five weeks after the fire was extinguished.  Local newspapers raved about the exhibit and praised the Rotary Clubs and community supporters who created art from tragedy with a relevance and purpose that was compelling.  The Editor of the Red Rock News encouraged “everyone” to attend this highly relevant and timely exhibition.

 

In one of his first acts as District Governor, Chuck Fitzgerald and his wife, Susan, came up from Phoenix especially to attend the opening reception.  Over the 10 days of the show $15,000 in donations were received, all of which were given to the Arizona Wildfire and Incident Management Academy and to a special fund to help with the recovery in the canyon that had been established by the Arizona Community Foundation.

Another distinguished visitor to the exhibition was the Executive Director of the Museum of Northern Arizona, Dr. Robert Breunig.  Within minutes of seeing the exhibit Dr. Breunig knew that it had to be shown at his museum in Flagstaff.  After months of preparation and planning, Rotarians and community volunteers installed the exhibit at the highly respected Museum early this year.  The exhibit has grown since the original showing at the Sedona Arts Center and now includes a history of forest fires along the Canyon and on the Colorado Plateau.

 

The Museum of Northern Arizona is located on Highway 180 just north of Flagstaff and is open to the public from 10-5pm Monday through Saturday and noon-5pm on Sundays.  The Slide Fire Story will be on display in the Donald W. Ware Special Exhibits Gallery at the Museum through April 30th.

 

For more information, contact David Simmer, President of the Rotary Club of Sedona,  dsimmer9@gmail.com or visit the Museum of Northern Arizona website at http://musnaz.org