Supervisors praise county's emergency response during recent fire; Motorola radio upgrades and fairgrounds projects underway

Graham County supervisors on May 19 spent substantial meeting time thanking staff and volunteers for their response to a recent wildfire and receiving updates on emergency communications and fairgrounds projects.

County Manager Dustin Welker told the board that the county mobilized emergency cooling stations and coordinated closely with the health department, sheriff's office, highway department and multiple fire agencies during the incident. "It was truly all hands on deck," Welker said, thanking Fort Thomas Fire, Safford, Thatcher and Pima fire crews and state crews for their assistance. He said some fire breaks were tested and that strong winds caused the fire to jump several times.

Welker also said the county is near completion of a first fairgrounds parking-lot paving effort performed by DOC crews and that conceptual drafts for a Fairgrounds master plan are expected in July. On communications, he said Motorola work on tower equipment is about 98% complete and county staff are coordinating field tests this week to identify radio coverage gaps.

Board members and the manager commended search-and-rescue and highway crews for door-knocking, traffic control and property-protection efforts. The update also covered the county's chip-seal program: Welker said work on several roads is complete and additional sections will be chip-sealed in the following two to three weeks.