Woodbury Fire east of Phoenix grows to almost 13,000 acres
Jun 13, 2019, 8:58 AM | Updated: Jun 18, 2019, 12:31 pm
(Facebook Photo/Daisy Mountain Fire and Medical)
PHOENIX — The Woodbury Fire burning east of Phoenix in the Superstition Mountains has grown from 9,300 acres to nearly 13,000.
Manny Cordova, a spokesman for the federal Type 1 Southwest Area Incident Management Team, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday some of the day’s focus would be “making sure those homes, those communities … ranches near the fire are protected and taken care of.”
The number of firefighters on the scene has grown to 600.
“We’re expecting with the higher temperatures and the lower relative humidity a little bit more fire activity,” he said on Thursday.
“And the anticipated weather is going to be about 110 to 112 degrees out there on the fire line with 15 to 20 mile per hour gusts.”
Cordova said the fire is creating a lot of smoke, but it is confined to a wilderness area and is not a threat to any homes.
The human-caused fire in the Tonto National Forest, which is still 0% contained, broke out Saturday afternoon about 5 miles northwest of Superior.
“The incident commanders will not call any portion of the edge of the fire contained unless or until it is absolutely cold and there is no chance of it spreading over the containment line,” Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Pamela Mathis told KTAR News on Friday.
She added that the containment percentage is expected to start rising in the coming days.
Cordova said firefighters will “continue to asses the area to ensure those homes, or those communities, or even those ranches that are near the fire, are protected and taken care of.”
#WoodburyFire Community Meeting More information and updates at Inciweb: https://t.co/X2sC5UgPgH #AZFire pic.twitter.com/TQSmCN7gAz
— Tonto NF (@TontoForest) June 13, 2019
According to the Arizona Emergency Information Network, any warning notices or evacuations will be coordinated through the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross and Amy Phol contributed to this report.
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