When Mount Lemmon suffered a devastating wildfire in 2003, homes and businesses on the mountain were just as affected as the surrounding forest area. Damages to the small community north of Tucson, Ariz., totaled about $17 million. More than 300 homes and businesses burned to the ground, according to the Coronado National Forest Web site.

After firefighters and nature finally extinguished the inferno, 85,000 acres of land lay charred in a chilling reminder of the events that had befallen the mountain.

Some of the few businesses remaining untouched by the flames that had engulfed the rest of the small town of Summerhaven were the local post office and Mount Lemmon Cafe, a restaurant synonymous with citizens’ pride of the mountain.

Six years later, residents have rebuilt many of the businesses back from the ground still black with the ash of a time when all of Summerhaven stood still.

It has not been an easy process for these business owners, and they will never forget the days that drastically changed their businesses and the mountain. The scars from the wildfire are still visible through the charred trees that cover the mountainside.
Residents of the small mountain community mourned the "pie lady's" death when Mount Lemmon Café’s beloved owner died last September.

Pam Rinella gained attention for her homemade pies, which she sold at the café. She had lived on Mount Lemmon for decades.

Marty Mollo, Rinella’s husband, expects the café to close its doors in the near future to make way for construction of a new facility, he told The Cat Scan.

— J. Mark Sternberg, Shain Bergan and Chris Carter.