After being closed due to the Pocket Fire since June 19, the Arizona Department of Transportation reopened State Route 89A between Sedona and Interstate 17 interchange south of Flagstaff — from mileposts 374 to 397 — on the morning of Monday, July 13.
Since June 23, when Coconino County Sheriff’s deputies allowed canyon residents to access their homes and ingress and egress the canyon with proof of residency, the state highway has been a ghost road only traversed by the residents, some property owners here in the summer and emergency vehicles heading between the northern and southern ends of the fire.
There aren’t too many businesses in the Oak Creek Canyon itself compared to Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek, but they are wholly dependent on tourist traffic that traverses the canyon daily, be it day-trippers from the Phoenix metro area coming to Oak Creek Canyon to get out of the Phoenician heat in the summer, or Grand Canyon visitors who opt for a drive on State Route 89A down Oak Creek Canyon rather than Interstate 17 on their way south.
The 26-day closure has hit these businesses hard as many of them operate on thin profit margins and require the mid-July business to help them make it through the summer. But it’s not just the business owners but the hundreds of employees working at the restaurants, shops, motels, bed-and-breakfasts and other operations, not to mention the contract workers for short-term rentals and private homes in the canyon, like maids, construction, home repair technicians and tradesmen who could not work their contracted jobs due to the CCSO’s closures.
We have heard that some of the businesses with some money to spare have paid or offered to pay their workers while the canyon was closed knowing that they have rent and bills to pay, but others simply don’t have the revenue to offer when they themselves are struggling to stay open until the canyon reopened.
If there are Oak Creek Canyon businesses you support during the summer with a visit and haven’t been to due to recent closure, make a stop this month and show your support to the workers.
The fire’s proximity to Sedona proper has also dropped tourism numbers even though the Pocket Fire was never closer than six miles north of Sedona. In-state and national news media reporting that the fire was “near Sedona” gave visitors the false impression that the fire was far closer to Sedona than it really was. Most people who visit Sedona conflate the vast “Sedona area” — which is 300 to 400 square miles — with the very narrow “Sedona” proper, which is only 23.6 square miles. Aside from Oak Creek Canyon and areas like Seven Canyons Golf Club and Enchantment Resort, the inhabited and unincorporated areas outside Sedona city limits are south and southwest of city limits, like the Village of Oak Creek, Red Rock Loop Road area, Elmersville and Cornville and were also unaffected directly by the fire.
With the Pocket Fire nearing full containment — some of the very rough and rugged terrain will make full containment by definition impossible, the fire is ending its run and its threat. Whether tourism and the revenue it brings bounces back quickly or slowly is anyone’s guess. Many out-of-state summer vacationers took trips elsewhere and won’t be looking at Sedona until later in the year or next year so those revenues are just gone. There are still a few weeks before Arizona’s schools resume meaning families statewide take the opportunity to vacation here after being denied earlier in the summer, or it may be just those who already planned to come in late July already.
On our end, coverage of the Pocket Fire has been nonstop from our staff, with reporters Joseph K. Giddens and James T. Kling, photojournalist David Jolkovski and myself providing daily updates, interviews, informational stories and links. We logged more than 9.5 million visits to our social media posts, videos and photographs as they spread online, with some individual posts and dramatic photos garnering more than 100,000 visits and a few well over 800,000. Readers and visitors want to know what was happening daily and we were eager to provide whatever information we could. We thank all those who shared their images and videos with our readers.
Even with the road open, the Pocket Fire is still burning. From ADOT: “Fire suppression activities in the area continue and motorists can expect increased fire response traffic in Oak Creek Canyon and the possibility of intermittent road closures to support these efforts,” according to ADOT. “Motorists can expect lane restrictions on SR 89A Mondays through Thursdays between Pine Flat Campground and the Oak Creek Vista scenic overlook — mileposts 387-390 — due to a previously scheduled guardrail improvement project. Flagging operations in the area will allow traffic to travel through the work zone one direction at a time. A 12-foot vehicle width restriction is in effect. North- and southbound SR 89A lanes will be open Friday through Sunday.”
We will be reporting on the fire until it’s out and then activities afterward by the U.S. Forest Service and state and federal agencies, whatever they may be.
