Smoke from the Bighorn Fire blankets the Santa Catalina Mountains, Tuesday morning, June 23, 2020.  Sentinel Peak is in the foreground.

 Mamta Popat / Arizona Daily Star

Smoke from the Bighorn Fire is expected to linger above a swath of Tucson through late Tuesday morning as the wildfire continues to burn since it was sparked by lightning June 5, officials said.

The smoke was expected to settle into the Catalina, Saddlebrooke, Oro Valley and along Canyon Del Oro and Pedro River Valley communities by Monday evening, according to the Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program.

Program officials are suggesting people “consider canceling or delaying morning activities until air improves.”

The fire has grown to 58,553 acres and was 16% contained as of Monday, officials said.

Gov. Doug Ducey visited Catalina State Park Monday to learn more about the fire. Ducey thanked firefighters, local agencies that are assisting, and others during his visit. “This is incredibly dangerous work in hot and extreme conditions,” Ducey said. “And those batting these wildfires remain in our constant prayers.”

Ducey said six prison inmate crews from the state Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, are currently deployed to help with fires across Arizona. Four of those crews are helping with the Bighorn Fire.

“These fully trained and talented Type II crews are a vital resource to Arizona and they’re a heroic example of how we’re collaborating across state agencies to protect lives, pets and property,” he said.

Fire crews near Summerhaven spent Tuesday working on a spot fire that started overnight across a fire line near Carter Canyon, Rocky Gilbert, of the Southwest Incident Management Team, said in a Monday afternoon operations update.

“However, it’s in the scar from the Aspen Fire and there’s a lot of dead standing snags that are in there that are a high concern for safety for our firefighters, which is one of the reasons we’re bringing in the excavator to hopefully be able to knock down some of those hazards,” he said.

Firefighters are continuing to put in a hand line from Marshall Gulch to Spencer Canyon. Fire crews are trying to keep the fire from getting into the Willow Homeowners Association, Gilbert said.

“They’re holding their own but it’s going to be a very dynamic day as we move through the shift,” he said.

Thousands of firefighters made some progress Monday against major wildfires across Arizona, according to the Associated Press.

Along the Bighorn Fire near Tucson, crews were fighting fires in the Tonto National Forest northeast of metro Phoenix, the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in northeast Arizona and in the Kaibab National Forest north of the Grand Canyon.

Authorities said the human-caused Bush Fire outside of metro Phoenix was 42% contained as of Monday after charring 291 square miles since it started June 13 in the Tonto National Forest.

Gov. Doug Ducey thanked firefighters, local agencies that are assisting and others during a visit to Catalina State Park Monday to learn more about the fire. “Those battling these wildfires remain in our constant prayers,” he said.

The lightning-caused Bighorn Fire covered some 91 square miles by Monday, the AP said.

Meanwhile, authorities said the lightning-caused Bringham Fire was 20% contained after burning 33 square miles in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest north of Morenci. That blaze continues to burn in steep, inaccessible areas.

In northern Arizona, improved weather conditions allowed firefighters to protect critical areas from the Mangum Fire burning in the Kaibab National Forest.

The blaze was 28% contained Monday at 108 square miles with its June 8 cause still under investigation. It has forced the closure of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon National Park until further notice, the AP reported.

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