Bush Fire containment grows as size remains near 187,000 acres

PHOENIX — The fifth-largest fire in Arizona’s history was 73% contained as of Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

Acreage consumed by the blaze had remained the same since Monday evening when containment was reported at 61%.

Some evacuations were lifted and roads opened Tuesday as containment continued to grow for the Bush Fire burning outside metro Phoenix.

Residents who were evacuated in the Sunflower and Apache Lake communities were allowed to return home at noon Tuesday, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

Sunflower residents will remain in the “set” mode for evacuation until further notice.

Also, State Route 87 between Payson and metro Phoenix has reopened in both directions, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

State Route 88 from Roosevelt Lake to Apache Lake and State Route 188 have also reopened, ADOT said.

On Friday, the Bush Fire took over the No. 5 spot from the Woodbury Fire, which whipped through nearly 124,00 acres in the Superstition Mountains a year ago. That fire, which started June 8, 2019, was not fully contained until mid-July.

The Horseshoe Two Fire, which burned through 222,954 acres in Cochise County in 2011, is No. 4 on the list.

The human-caused Bush blaze was sparked June 13 by a vehicle fire.

There are currently 522 personnel working to contain the fire, according to Southwest Area Incident Management Team #1.

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