Runner hotfoots it to try stamping out Phoenix-area brush fire

PHOENIX – A typical training run for Trevor Murphy of Scottsdale generally does not involve firefighting.

But it did last week when he tried to stomp out part of a fire burning in the McDowell Mountains near Fountain Hills early Friday.

“It wasn’t the smartest move,” Murphy told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Mike Broomhead Show on Monday.

He had already called 911, he said in an Instagram post, but “I felt a personal obligation to do my part. I felt like I could help.”

When he wasn’t stamping his feet onto small flames, Murphy was dragging his feet in the dirt trying to create a fire break to slow the spread and throwing rocks at the blaze.

Rock-throwing, he admitted, “was desperation.”

That was not the advice Murphy got from a virtual assistant.

“I even asked Siri, ‘how do you put out a brush fire?'”

She did not respond, he said.

Remarkably, Murphy wasn’t injured, although some of his hair was singed.

The same could not be said of his shoes or phone.

“The shoes completely melted,” Murphy said and somehow his cellphone got broken.

To top it off, when Murphy got back to his car there was a parking ticket on the windshield.

“It was kind of a rough morning,” he joked.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Trevor Murphy (@trevorjmurphy) on Aug 21, 2020 at 6:19am PDT

AZFamily captured video of his efforts.

This hiker is apparently trying to put out a fire burning near fountain hills. Video from @chopperguyhd @azfamily pic.twitter.com/wsxo4cZeDJ

— Scott Pasmore (@scottpasmoretv) August 21, 2020

“It’s an experience I’ll never forget,” Murphy said.

Murphy is training to compete in an ultramarathon, which is 100 miles. He said he usually runs about 10 miles to 20 miles a day.

The fire in the McDowell Mountains was sparked by lighting during Thursday’s monsoon storm.

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