Arizona wildfires: Tuzigoot and Texas Summit fires being contained

Tuzigoot National Park and some trails remain closed by a wildfire that broke out over the weekend, as a second fire burns in Cochise County.

There, an evacuation alert for Hereford and Palominas has been lifted.

On the heels of Southwest Wildfire Awareness Week, two 100 acres plus wildfires spawned in both southern and northern Arizona, each of which is being contained.

As snowfall and freeze watches were called for parts of northern and southern Arizona, and just days after the last winter weather advisory in the high country, Arizona's first significant wildfire of the year broke out in Yavapai County on April 2.

The fire had reportedly grown to around 100 acres as of 1:20 p.m. on Monday, closing both the Tuzigoot National Monument and all trail access leading into Tavasci Marsh to the public until further notice.

"It is still holding at 106 acres with no significant activity expected. We will be transitioning to a Type 4 IMT (incident management team) tomorrow evening at 6 p.m. Monitoring and mop-up is going to continue to occur over the next several days. Most of the active fire right now is burning in the heavy dead and down cottonwoods, and those will continue to burn out as hazard trees and the dead and down fuels," National Park Service Public Affairs Specialist Joëlle Baird told The Arizona Republic Tuesday.

The return to a Type 4 team ultimately means that the "severity of the fire has been reduced in terms of personnel needs" and crews will transition back to a team of mainly local resources to monitor the fire's activity going forward.

Additionally, Baird said that the closure is still in effect.

The National Weather Service Flagstaff office also does not plan to issue any red flag warnings for Arizona's high country, even as winds persist.

"We're not currently planning on doing any fire products. While yes, it is breezy and what areas that didn't get in on the precipitation yesterday, overall fuels though are still pretty saturated just because of the persistent snow and rain that has been widespread the past couple months. That's why, at least here in northern Arizona, we haven't been issuing any products," Roakes said.

Bureau of Land Management tackling 500-acre blaze in Cochise County

Down in southern Arizona, crews battled with a 150+ acre fire beginning on Monday that quickly sprawled into a 500-acre blaze.

Due to the fire, the Cochise County Sheriff's Office was given an evacuation order, which was subsequently lifted just before 9 p.m. on April 3, 2023.

According to a tweet from the Bureau of Land Management, two primary structures as well as two to three secondary buildings were lost on account of the fire.

"Thus far, what we have is 25% containment. They were able to stop the forward progress on that fire yesterday evening. The plan is to do an aerial mapping over the fire today, weather permitting, to get updated acreage. So right now, we're still estimated at 500, but more than likely that acreage amount will go up once we get the aerial mapping completed," Bureau of Land Management Gila District Public Affairs Specialist June Lowery told the Arizona Republic.

The aftermath, however, is shaping up positively.

"Overall, I think it's looking good despite all the winds out that way they were able to get around it and get some good lines in, so hopefully the lines will hold today, and we can continue to improve our containment numbers," Lowery said.

Further damage assessment will be conducted by the bureau as well as air quality control alongside the Department of Environmental Quality Control, Cochise County Sheriff's Office PIO Carol Capas said.

Red flag warnings have been issued by the weather service in Tucson, which remained in effect until April 4, 2023, at 7 p.m.

That's in part due to stiff wind gusts around the state. On Monday, the weather service clocked peak gusts as high as 72 mph in Gila County. Gusts topping 60 mph were common in the high country, and gales over 40 mph were widely reported around Maricopa County.

For information on how to help prevent wildfires, please visit the Department of Forestry and Fire Management website at https://dffm.az.gov/fire/information.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tuzigoot National Park remains closed due to northern Arizona wildfire