Arizona firefighters kept busy with wildfires over holiday weekend

PHOENIX — Arizona firefighters weren’t able to have a respite over the holiday weekend.

The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management announced Wednesday that firefighters responded to 46 wildfires between July 4-7.

The fires burned almost 4,000 acres.

The department said that most of the fires were human caused, from things like debris burns and welding.

That includes a brush fire that burned more than 300 acres in north Phoenix on Sunday believed to be started by a crashed remote control airplane.

Fire activity remains high across the state, including the desert areas, due to an abundance of grass from last year’s winter rain and snow.

Of the 935 wildfires in the state so far this year, 94% of them were determined to be human caused, the department said.

The wildfires have burned more than 205,000 acres statewide, although more than half of that came from a single fire.

The Woodbury Fire east of Phoenix has burned almost 124,000 acres in the last month. It was 90% contained as of noon Wednesday and was no longer growing.

State Highway 88 and Apache Lake remain closed between Tortilla Flat and the Roosevelt Dam.

They will remain closed until potential damage to the highway from the fire and monsoon rains can be assessed.

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