The huge column of thin smoke rising south of the Verde Valley is due to a combination of fires burning south of Prescott on the Prescott National Forest. Prevailing winds are pushing the smoke northeast over Dewey-Humboldt and directly into the Verde Valley.
The larger fire is the Cellar Fire, burning about 1,000 acres four miles northeast of the Wagoner Road area. Two single-engine air tankers, four Hotshot crews and a helicopter are battling that blaze.
The smaller 100-acre Castle Creek Fire is burning about six miles east of Crown King in the Castle Creek Wilderness, according to the Prescott National Forest.
Christopher Fox Graham is the managing editor of the Sedona Rock Rocks News, The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra. Hired by Larson Newspapers as a copy editor in 2004, he became assistant manager editor in October 2009 and managing editor in August 2013. Graham has won awards for editorials, investigative news reporting, headline writing, page design and community service from the Arizona Newspapers Association. Graham has also been featured in Editor & Publisher magazine. He lectures on journalism and First Amendment law and is a nationally recognized performance aka slam poet. Retired U.S. Army Col. John Mills, former director of Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs referred to him as "Mr. Slam Poet."
