COCONINO COUNTY, Ariz. — It’s hard to imagine what Robert and Shelley Miller’s home used to look like before it was charred by the Tunnel Fire burning 15 miles north of Flagstaff.
Burnt brick, melted glass and twisted metal are all that is left of the once two-story house with an all-around porch, where the couple raised their three children.
The Millers had lived there for 25 years.
“It’s so hard to describe,” said Robert when trying to identify pieces among the rubble on Sunday.
The couple was in midair on a flight to Washington, D.C. when the fire spread out of control. When they landed, a flood of text messages began with "Can we help you?" "What can we do?" and ended with, "Are you out? Are you safe?"
That’s how they knew their home was gone. They immediately flew back.
The Tunnel Fire broke out on Tuesday and grew quickly as it was fueled by gusty winds. The Millers' 22-year-old daughter rushed home after getting a notification on her cellphone about the fire.
“Our daughter remembered our wedding photo album, went upstairs and grabbed it, she also pulled photos off the walls,” said Robert. “Our horses got out, friends and family showed up and in one hour, they pulled out five trailers.”
The Miller’s house, a rental home that sits on the property, and Robert's dad’s home - which is located just North of theirs - were reduced to ashes.
“We watched videos of our house and my dad’s house burnt to the ground and not a water truck showed up,” he added. “There was time after the fire [passed by] to come and put this house out.”
While 12 News toured the Millers' property, Robert pointed out a piece of sheetrock burned on the ground that did not have any water damage, along with other debris left behind that did not have watermarks.
“There was nobody here, the video footage we have, nobody was here helping, our frustration is entirely that, we were failed by the forest service,” Robert said. “How come it was the people, contractors, saving our properties?”
Business owners, residents combatting flames with fire crews
As the Tunnel Fire continues to burn, residents in Doney Park, a community just north of Flagstaff, stepped in to help.
One of those people was Rich Walters, owner of R.T.R Paving & Resurfacing, who saw plumes of black smoke coming from a neighborhood area.
“I called my son Tyler and said, ‘get a water truck out here from the job site, make sure it’s full and let’s get out there and see if we can help,'” he said.
At first, Walters admits he didn’t know how they could help. He thought maybe having water nearby for firefighters would be enough, but he then saw that a friend’s house was in the flames’ path.
“We went in there and soaked the fire right around his house, the flames were right to his stem wall on his house,” Walters said.
Firefighters then asked Walters and his son to move back to a safer area, but the fire was rapidly spreading.
“The house across the street went up in flames, it just took a matter of seconds for that thing to be from not on fire to fully engulfed in flames,” Walters said. “We had both of our eyes going both ways.”
Walter’s other son, Travis, then arrived with a second water truck. Todds Excavating also showed up with two additional water trucks to help, Walters added.
The four private contractor vehicles assisted Flagstaff firefighters with putting out hotspots along the roads and filled up their truck tenders, “so they could keep battling and going,” he said.
Walters said water trucks can haul 2,000 gallons of water each, while the firetrucks hold 500 gallons. They were able to save time thanks to Doney Park Water who allowed them to refill through their hydrants, and carried eight loads of water, he added.
“It was a community effort, it wasn’t just us out there,” said Tyler Walters said. “I saw the boots on the ground, and I thank all the Forest service, fire departments, police officers. I know first-hand what they were feeling.”
Rich Walters believes between the four construction vehicles they were able to save four homes.
“There was a lot of people out there, but there was so much fire, there was nearly not enough people,” the owner of the paving company said. “It was like a firestorm, pine trees, 40 feet tall would go up in a matter of minutes.”
In total, 109 structures were destroyed, including 31 homes, the Coconino County Sheriff’s office said.
“Very scary for us because we’re not firefighters by no means, we just wanted to help, whatever way we could,” Rich Walters said.
Residents impacted by Tunnel Fire upset over response
The cause of the Tunnel Fire is still under investigation by an outside agency, Coconino County Board of supervisors Chair Patrice Horstman said.
In a community meeting on April 23, Matt McGrath, Flagstaff district ranger in the Coconino National Forest, said the fire started where campfires are restricted and don’t believe it was started by lightning.
Residents impacted by the fire pressed fire officials during that meeting over their response to the event. Multiple said they were upset, adding they reported the fire on Sunday before it got out of control.
McGrath said he got an email from residents who he said essentially had to drive away from their home as it was burning and in paraphrased asked him “what the hell [happened]?”
The district ranger said he replied to the concerned resident explaining but was surprised by the response he got.
“This person talked about understanding the tough job that we have,” he said. “They said we usually do a very good job. They said, ‘This time, I think you could have done a better job,’ which is also a very reasonable thing for them to say.”
He continued, “then at the end, they said, ‘I still support you.’ I just sort of stood there and looked at that for a while because it was pretty remarkable to me. It showed incredible strength and grace that probably only I can aspire to. It was really meaningful to me and to all of my firefighters. Many, most of whom, were born and raised in Flagstaff.”
During the meeting, multiple residents said they called in to report the fire on Sunday and Monday. A woman asked the forest service how many calls total they received and "why was it not stopped?"
PHOTOS: Tunnel Fire burning northeast of Flagstaff
The fire fighting began on Sunday when McGrath said a fire was reported at 4:22 p.m.
Four engines responded within 15 minutes and crews were there until 8:30 p.m. when the fire was contained with no visible flames or smoke, McGrath said.
As per procedures, crews went back to the same spot Monday morning and worked on it most of the day, so crews were not responding to a specific call, the district ranger said.
“They worked the fire because when the sun comes up, oftentimes the fire can become active. They did that and worked the fire for most of the day and then went back to the station,” he added.
McGrath said, at the time of the meeting, he hadn’t talked to all the people involved so he didn’t have all the details but knew that when crews went back out Tuesday, “they were working the fire and the winds came up and they could not control it.”
The resident asked about the number of calls the department got about the fire when it first started. McGrath replied “I don’t know why anyone was surprised by the wind, or how it got away. It blows every day, for the same month, all the time.”
Another resident asked if the National Weather Service had predicted gusts of 50 mph wind later in the week. “Why wouldn’t you leave one engine to babysit it? Why did they leave that night?”
McGrath said the fire was 100% suppressed from the beginning, adding “there was never a time when we thought ‘oh we’ll just let it sit, we’re not going to worry about it.'”
Gary Sharp, a resident who said he moved to Arizona six years ago from California said, he drove to the fire station after seeing smoke when he was leaving the grocery store.
When he got there, he said the building was closed and no one answered the door. While there, Sharp said another person also showed up who was also trying to report the fire. He then called 911 to report the fire.
Sharp said he went home thinking the fire was under control, but come Tuesday he saw smoke on the same spot and again called 911. The resident said he was told the smoke was from a "controlled burn."
“I thought to myself, wait a minute lady, that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Sharp said. “No one does a controlled burn when there are 55 mph winds coming our way. That is ridiculous.”
Sharp said hours later he was fighting flames with his garden hose and tractor in his backyard.
“I saw sheriff cars. They said, ‘we’re here to help,’ and I said ‘well buddy if you’re gonna help, you’re gonna need to grab a hose because I’m not leaving. I’ve got dogs, I got my cat and everything and I’m not moving,'” Sharp said. “He just kind of snickered at me and he drove off. I saw not one fire crew of any sort, coming to help me out. I was there standing alone.”
McGrath responded and said the forest service did not have any prescribed fires planned for the week, and that Friday, April 15, was the last time they conducted one.
'Just thankful that we could get everyone out'
Residents who were evacuated during the emergency have also questioned the time frame of the notifications regarding the fire.
Shauna Womack said she was forced to evacuate her home in 20 minutes.
“I remember watching the fire grow in the morning, knowing that it started Sunday and for some reason, we started seeing more plumes,” she said. “I called my husband and asked if he should come, this was before the ‘SET,' and I said ‘in my gut, yes, you need to come home.'”
By the time he got home, she said they got the "GO" order. Four of her seven children were at school, but she managed to get out with her three toddlers and dogs.
“Just thankful that we could get everyone out,” Womack said.
On Sunday, as evacuation orders were lifted and families were allowed to go back to their homes.
Coconino County Sheriff Jim Driscoll said the fire "moved so fast."
“We went from the ‘SET’ stage to the ‘GO’ stage in 12 minutes in parts of these communities,” he said. “Thirty-one homes is a lot, but it could have been much much worse, we could have lost hundreds of homes very easily in this fire.”
Resident whose family lost three homes: ‘We were failed by the forest service’
The Tunnel Fire was the fourth and final fire that threatened Millers' home, Robert said.
During the Schultz Fire in 2010, the Millers said they saved their home from the burning flames by using private water trucks and hosing the property down.
Robert believes had he been in town on Tuesday, his home would have been saved.
“There was nobody here, the video footage we have nobody was here helping, our frustration is entirely that. We were failed by the forest service,” Robert said. “This could have been avoided, and it should have been avoided on Sunday.”
Six days after the fire raged through the Millers’ property, one of the structures burnt still smoldered.
Several vehicles, including a restored Model T and a school bus, which their 18-year-old son had acquired two months prior for a school project to turn it into a tiny home, were among the damaged.
Despite the massive destruction done to their personal belongings, the fire moved so fast through the Millers' home that a plastic swing and patio chairs, a wooden bench, and a barn filled with hay, escaped the flames.
The Millers plan to rebuild.
“The next time we have a party here, it’s going to be a house cooling party, we’re not going to do any warming parties,” Robert Miller said. “There’s a brighter tomorrow, and there’s a brighter eternity with Christ.”
Arizona Wildfires
Track the latest coverage of the 2022 Arizona Wildfire Season with the current coverage on our 12 News YouTube channel.
Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12 News YouTube channel. Subscribe today.