#Crews battling wildfire near Tucson say home threats down

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Bighorn Fire
Kelly Presnell/Arizona Daily Star via AP

TUCSON, Ariz. — Firefighters battling a large wildfire in the foothills and mountains north of Tucson were more confident they could protect homes Sunday but said high winds will continue to push the blaze into higher elevations where they can’t safely put crews.

The fire is one of several burning across the state amid hot, dry and windy conditions. A blaze on the Grand Canyon’s North Rim is threatening the resort community of Jacob Lake, and a blaze on the Tonto National Forest has closed a major highway between Phoenix and Payson.

Efforts to protect homes in an area north of Tucson known as East Golder Ranch are ongoing, but a spokesman for the team fighting the growing blaze said they believe they are in less danger now. That area is on the northwestern side of the fire.

“Crews were very successful yesterday and overnight in securing this piece and limiting the spread potential or threat to that community,” Travis Mabery of the Southwest Incident Management Team said at a media briefing early Sunday morning. “At this time the threat to the community we’re feeling very good about.”

Evacuations are still in place in the Golder Ranch area and other areas have been warned to be ready to leave if the fire approaches.

On the southern edge of the fire, in Tucson’s Catalina foothills, there is still a potential for spread that could endanger homes, but Mabery said after more than a week of work that’s less of a threat.

The fire, which lightning started on June 5, increased to 19 square miles (49 square kilometers) as of Sunday and was only about 11% contained. It is burning in the Santa Catalina Mountains in the Coronado National Forest. More than 550 people are assigned to battle the blaze.

The big issue Sunday will be winds pushing the flames into the higher elevations, where it is unsafe to put crews on the ground because of rugged terrain.

“We can’t get folks out of there. We can’t extract someone if something were to go bad or injury happen up there,” Mabery said. “Today’s another critical fire weather day – very strong winds for us out of the southwest. We expect to see some of that fire moving upslope.”

To prepare for that, crews are being sent to the mountaintop resort community of Summerhaven on Mt. Lemmon to begin work to protect it in case the fire gets that far.

In northern Arizona, Grand Canyon National Park officials said the North Rim remained closed due to a wildfire in part of the Kaibab National Forest that is threatening the community of Jacob Lake. Authorities evacuated the hamlet Friday after winds pushed the fire forward about 10 miles (16 kilometers).

The fire has now consumed nearly 31 square miles (80 square kilometers) of forest and was just 2% contained on Sunday morning.

A second day of high winds Sunday is continuing to push the fire as crews work to beef up lines about structures in the community. Crews worked all day Saturday and into the night to strengthen existing fire breaks near the community.

The Forest Service has for years allowed small fires to burn on the North Rim to thin heavy stands of trees and brush and limit the risk of a catastrophic fire.

Jacob Lake has campgrounds and an inn with a gas station and cabins, officials said.

East of Phoenix, crews have no containment on wildfire that broke out Saturday and has burned about 12 square miles (30 square kilometers). State Route 87 connecting Payson to metro Phoenix is closed, forcing weekend visitors to the state’s high county to take long detours to get back home. No homes are threatened, but recreation sites are closed.