City of Sedona to dip into pockets for post-fire crisis management 

While containment efforts on the Pocket Fire continue, so do post-fire economic recovery plans by Coconino and Yavapai counties and the city of Sedona’s Destination Marketing & Management Organization.

Sedona City Council voted unanimously Tuesday, July 14, to authorize City Manager Anette Spickard to spend up to $150,000 in contingency funds on tourism advertising, with $50,000 of that earmarked for crisis messaging.

The Pocket Fire is at 83% containment and 27,393 acres as of the afternoon of Tuesday July 14, with 678 personnel assigned. Fire line remediation work is underway and crews were informed “to be aware of increased traffic with the reopening of SR 89A,” which had been closed for 24 days until its reopening on Monday, July 13, to allow for aerial operations to go over the roadway.

“The last remaining heat detected exists in the bottom of West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon, east of Barney Spring Canyon, where terrain is inaccessible to firefighters,” USFS wrote on Tuesday, July 14. “This heat is well-contained by previous retardant drops and has also received significant wetting rain over the past two days. The only chipping left to do in the southern portion of the fire is in the Enchantment area. This work is expected to be completed over the next several days, although storms continue to cause delays across the fire area as resources retreat to the safety of higher ground.”

USFS also announced on Wednesday, July 15, that its Burned Area Emergency Response team has started its survey’s of the landscape to assess the risk of potential flooding and debris flow from the Pocket Fire.

Tourism

“We use our gallery as our bellwether for economic issues and tourism issues in Sedona,” Sedona Arts Center CEO and Tourism Advisory Board member Julie Richard said during the Sedona City Council meeting Tuesday, July 14. “We actually had a great June, and I really attribute that to the fact that the city started marketing directly to wealthy areas starting in late May.”

After the Pocket Fire broke out on June 19, Richard said SAC attendance fell drastically especially over the 4th of July weekend. When normally about 200 people would come through the gallery, “we had 61,” she said.

“The next day we had 38 [attendees], and the sales reflected the same thing,” Richard said. “People are staying away, just in the last week, from July 7 to the 14, we had two zero-dollar days.

“Normally we have maybe three across an entire summer. … We are always down in July and August, and we usually close a day a week in August. This year, we decided to close starting on Sundays.”

Aiden by Best Western hotel General Manager Lonnie Lillie also noted on the Fourth of July “I never hit my brakes through the roundabout” while going through Uptown.

To help combat downturns in tourism and as part of this year’s budget discussions, council voted to have $150,000 in tourism advertising contingency, originally $50,000 of that was to be for marketing Sedona during opportunities such as Phoenix getting an influx of visitors for a major sporting event. However, after the Pocket Fire, city staff decided to have that $50,000 be used for marketing in response to a crisis such as fire, flood or other events.

Absent a crisis, staff must identify “a definitive trend of declining industry performance” before working with the city manager to access funds, triggered when “overnight demand is down 3% or more for four-plus weeks,” year-over-year, alongside a majority of negative responses to the Tourism Business Performance & Outlook Survey; focus group discussions with industry leaders; Visa Destination Insights data showing falling spending within campaign markets, validating the decline; and Arizona Department of Transportation data showing flat or declining vehicle volume, the presentation materials read.

For faster access to up to $50,000 of that same pool of $150,000, an event has to occur that causes “immediate impact to visitation and/or reputational damage to the city,” the presentation materials reads — such when Arizona Department of Transportation traffic data shows a drop in vehicle flows into the area, a decline is documented in Weekly Smith Travel Research, shortterm rental performance drops and or direct feedback from the business community.

Several speakers during public comment criticized the city’s crisis communication about the Pocket Fire.

“What disappoints me greatly is the lack of marketing and advertising for the last three weeks as we had a natural disaster,” Lillie said. “I’ve mentioned to whomever would listen the last few years that we have to have campaigns … for natural disasters like just happened. Sedona was open, but nobody was saying it, besides the [Sedona Chamber of Commerce] and local business owners.”

Economic Impact

Coconino County announced on Tuesday, July 13, that it had submitted an application for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans program, and that it sampled businesses affected by the Pocket Fire which “reported a combined $743,000 in losses between June 19 and July 7,” driven by the closure of State Route 89A through Oak Creek Canyon, which was closed from June 20 through July 13.

Coconino County was asked by the NEWS to provide the application packet including the survey of business losses but did not respond before the print deadline.

Yavapai County is anticipated to also submit an application, according to Supervisor Nikki Check [D-District 3].

“The EIDL program provides 30- year loans with an interest rate capped at four percent to affected businesses,” the county announcement reads. “Principal and interest payments are not required in the first year of the loan to help businesses survive the loss of tourism. The EIDL program, if awarded, would be available to all businesses in Coconino County, as well as neighboring Yavapai, Mohave, Gila and Navajo counties, San Juan and Kane counties in Utah and Tribal Nations.”

The Coconino County Board of Supervisors also approved Resolution 2026-40 “recognizing the environmental and economic impacts of the Pocket Fire on Coconino County,” during its July 8 meeting.