Weekend wrap: Here are the biggest Arizona news stories from June 19-21

The Rock Canyon Fire is threatening structures and private property, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The fire grew to 4,823 acres on Sunday morning, up nearly 200 acres since Friday. However, the fire’s containment did increase from 20% to 30%.

The reason for the reported size increase was due to more accurate mapping of the fire at this point.

Pocket Fire: SR 89A between Sedona and I-17 remains closed, evacuations in place

Crews continued to fight the 293-acre Pocket Fire on Sunday, which has forced evacuations and completely shut down State Route 89A between northern Sedona and Interstate 17.

The blaze was initially reported around 5 p.m. Friday in the Red Rock-Secret Mountain Wilderness area, roughly 7 miles north of Sedona. It was initially estimated at 100 acres before growing rapidly amid heavy summer heat.

It is not current known what ignited the fire, which has been fueled by wood and brush.

A Southwest Area Incident Management Team 2 took command of the fire on Sunday after a Northern Arizona Type 3 Incident Management Team led operations on Saturday. There are 302 total personnel working on containment of blaze, which is still at 0%, according to InciWeb.

Wildfire near Globe nearly doubles in size, emergency road closures remain

A wildfire about 20 miles north of Globe has nearly doubled in size on Saturday after already causing the emergency closure of several roads, authorities said.

The Sycamore Fire was started by lightning on Tuesday and has grown to 6,281 acres with 6% containment, according to Tonto National Forest officials. The growth comes after the fire was around 3,328 acres with 0% containment on Saturday morning.

A Type 3 Incident Management Team took command of the blaze Friday morning.

The weather being hotter and drier on Friday and Saturday caused an increase in fire behavior.

Two giant homebuilders close on $63M state land buy in Peoria

Tri Pointe Homes and PulteGroup have closed on the final parcel of land at the 1,200-acre Aloravita master-planned community in Peoria.

Back in October 2024, the two giant builders were the winning bidders for a 274-acre parcel near 83rd Avenue and Happy Valley Road, securing the parcel for $63 million.

As the winners back then, the builders received a certificate of purchase and only had to pay interest on the land until closing the deal nearly two years later on June 5.

Behind the scenes, the homebuilder joint venture has been obtaining necessary entitlements from the city of Peoria to develop the property.

If the builders had defaulted on any of the terms and conditions outlined in the certificate of purchase, the property would have reverted back to the state and would have gone back to auction.

This story is posted in partnership with Phoenix Business Journal. Click to read the full story.

1-year-old girl dies from drowning after being pulled from pool at Phoenix home

A 1-year-old girl died Saturday evening after she was pulled from a backyard swimming pool in north Phoenix, authorities said.

Firefighters responded to a home in the area of 56th Street and Bell Road at approximately 7:30 p.m. following reports of a child drowning, according to the Phoenix Fire Department.

First responders arrived at the scene and located an unconscious 1-year-old girl who was not breathing.

A family member had performed CPR before Phoenix police officers arrived at the home and took over life-saving measures, officials said.