Later in life, Jack and Helen Frye built the now world-famous, one of kind, "House of Apache Fires" at their 700 acre Smoke Trail Ranch in Sedona. This house had views to die for, and now as one of Sedona's most historic landmarks, it rests amid some of the most valuable real estate in Arizona. Helen and Jack's ranch in Sedona, now as Red Rock State Park, even at only a third of its original acreage, is now worth approximately 125 million dollars. If Jack and Helen had kept the entire Smoke Trail Ranch intact it would be worth a staggering 350 million dollars at today's prices! At the time the Apache Fires house was built by Helen and Jack, they owned a total of over 50,000 acres of land in the state of Arizona alone, This included the Sunshine Ranch, now known as the Red Gap Ranch, between Winslow and Flagstaff. Another ranch, near Red Valley Arizona, was called the Spring Valley ranch. Simultaneously, they had a 5 acre estate in Overland Park, Kansas (suburb of Kansas City,) and a 73 acre estate with mansion, pool, and stables in Falls Church, Virginia, aptly named "Hillcrest Farm." The estate was at one time called the Doubleday Mansion, and currently it is known as the Cedars. Whew......what a lot of household management for Helen! It's no wonder Helen Frye derived most of her sleep on TWA Airliners and her and Jack's private Lockheed planes.
Later in life, after Helen and Jack went their seperate ways, Helen built several other showplace homes in Sedona. A pioneer of innovation, Helen developed a portion of her and Jack's ranch into "Cup of Gold Estates," now one of the most exclusive, scenic, and high-dollar creek-side developments in the Sedona region. At the time of Helen and Jack's divorce, there was a pending forest service land trade with their Spring Valley ranch. This land on the north side of Smoke Trail Ranch, called the "cliff-site" became the property that Helen built another home in 1961. Christened the "Wings of the Wind," the views from this property are breathtaking. Quite assuredly, even today it is one of the top five view parcels in the entire Sedona area!
How did I investigate the fire? By running all over Sedona chasing phantoms- first, to the Red Rock News in Uptown Sedona for 4 hours of tireless searching through newspapers from 1979 onward, no luck. Secondly- I talked to personnel at two of our Sedona Fire Department Stations. The current Sedona Fire Inspector directed me to a couple of ex-firefighters, at this point I started to hit paydirt. I actually found a firefighter that not only remembered a fire at the Ridge, but actually responded to it! Boy, did this guy have an amazing memory! However- was it the right location and date?
Yes, he remembered a fire at the "Ridge" near Rancho Rojo Estates, in a large home on a hill. "A long time ago," he related, "Don't know if I can help you with the details. No it wasn't around New Year's, perhaps later in the year. We responded to a call in early morning from Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek, two stations. The guy who called in the fire gave poor directions, he told us to turn at a certain person's house, saying everyone knows the place. It turned out once we were underway, no one knew who or where, he was talking about! Finally, after more directions we found the area. It was in the dark. I couldn't find the house again on a bet. When we got there we assessed the fire. We started up the staircase but about halfway up we were confronted with heat so intense we had to back out. By that time the other Fire Department crew arrived and set up floodlights. The fire was so hot that it was melting the pitch out of the open-beamed timbered ceilings. Pitch was dripping on the floors. The fire had moved from the kitchen up the electrical "J' box up into the bathroom upstairs. The upstairs walls were studded but not finished. No it did not burn down. I do not recall any fire in Sedona where the house was not saved during that time period."
It was my impression he indicated that someone was trying to spray down the ceilings. Either way he knew the time of the year was not New Year's, as by the time they were finished he said they were in their shirt sleeves and the weather was mild. By the time they mopped up, it was dawn. He said he didn't remember the cause being mysterious at all, but electrical. The house was owned by a single young male. He said he felt the time period was around 1982 or 1983, not 1979 or 1980. Later, after the fire they found out the place was associated with a certain esoteric group, (name with held.) I thanked him for his terrific memory, and left. The next day I decided to give the Red Rock News another try, researching later in the year from New Year's, and earlier. Finally after two hours I hit gold! There was the article on the front page of the Red Rock News, describing almost exactly what the fireman had told me, and he was actually mentioned in the article. This guy was amazing. It was the same fire I was looking for, the names proved it. Mandeville is one of SFD's finest, without a doubt!
May 4, 1983 (Front Page)
FIRE DAMAGE SET AT $20,000.00
Fire caused an estimated $20,000.00 damage during the early morning hours Friday to a former Helen Frye residence in the Village of Oak Creek on Spiritual Life Institute Road.
Fire Department spokesman Captain Denny Mandeville said, the current occupant awoke, smelled smoke and went some distance to reach a neighbor's home to call for help.
A fire of undetermined electrical origin in the two-story house was considered the cause of the fire, Mandeville said.
Extensive damage was done by breaking water pipes, but these in turn likely saved the building, he said.
A total of 19 firefighters from the Sedona-Oak Creek (Coconino) and Red Rock (Yavapai) volunteer fire districts answered the call and were on the scene until 6:30 a.m.
(Although the newspaper article named the "current occupant" of the residence, it has been left out for this webpage. Anyone desiring to read the original article can do so at the Red Rock News offices).
Recently it has come to my attention that Sky Fires no longer exists. It was torn down after the fire, and probably sat about where the Sedona Golf Resort resides today.
All Rights Reserved
Sedona Legend Helen Frye