Jon Johnson Photo/Gila Herald: A controlled burn of debris at Colvin Farms in Eden drew the attention of the community Wednesday morning.
By Jon Johnson
EDEN – A large plume of black smoke arose from in front of Colvin Farms at 9528 Hot Springs Rd. in Eden on Wednesday morning, but the owner, Clint Colvin, advised it was a controlled burn.
Colvin said a lot of the debris he was burning washed up on his property during the Gila River flood of August 2022. At that time, the river broke through a levee, flooded cotton fields, and closed Bryce/Eden Road just east of the Eden Bridge.
The river deluge flooded about 80 acres of Colvin’s cotton, and a lot of the debris included the tamarisk plant, also known as salt cedar.
On Wednesday, Colvin’s burn pile drew attention from the community as it was widely seen throughout the area. The thick, black smoke went right up in a column and then spread throughout the Gila Valley as it blew westward toward Fort Thomas.