Arizona Wildfire Grows Along Highway Between Sedona

Arizona Wildfire Grows Along Highway Between Sedona, Flagstaff-Hundreds of firefighters were working to protect communities from a wildfire chewing up a scenic Arizona canyon early Friday that had turned entire trees to ash. The human-caused fire north of Slide Rock State Park grew to about 7,500 acres since Tuesday, as about 900 firefighters and personnel were finally able to get about 5 percent of the blaze's southern end contained, officials said.

The fire is concentrated in and around Oak Creek Canyon, a scenic recreation zone along a highway between Sedona and Flagstaff. Flagstaff Fire Capt. Bill Morse said Friday that the number of burned acres will continue to grow, but so will the containment numbers. “It is important to understand this is all within our catcher’s mitt,” Morse said, adding, “We’re going to be here for a while.” The fire grew tenfold from Wednesday and from 7-1/2 square miles earlier Thursday.

There have been no reports so far of injuries or structures burned. Fire incident commander Tony Sciacca said Thursday night that crews have made good progress and some containment was expected soon but he added, "We are not out of the woods yet." The fire still was 3 to 3-1/2 miles away from the residential areas of Forest Highlands and Katina Village, where 3,200 residents remained under pre-evacuation warnings.

Officials were mindful of the fire's dangers, as they looked at giant flames shooting up the walls of the canyon and saw how hot the fire was burning in the tinder-dry drought conditions. "The fuels are just so dry, entire trees are turning to ash," said Dick Fleishman, a spokesman for fire managers. A primary focus of firefighting efforts will be to pinch off the fire where it has reached the top of the canyon's northeast corner to keep it from burning northward toward residential areas, he said. Read more