Windy conditions โ mainly on Sunday โ will be a main concern for wildland firefighting crews working against blazes in Southern Arizona.
โA weather trough is coming through this weekend with no rain, just winds with gusts of up to 35 mph,โ said Rob Howlett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tucson.
The wind and an abundance of dry vegetation originating from last yearโs monsoon season is a main concern in the spread of the Lizard and Bowie fires, Howlett said.
The Lizard Fire, which has 220 firefighters assigned to it, is burning in the Dragoon Mountains and merged Friday with the 200-acre Dragoon Fire, for a combined 7,563 acres. The fire is burning in tall grass and brush and sending smoke through the valley because of the winds.
Both fires erupted from lightning strikes Wednesday and forced 30 families in Cochise Stronghold to evacuate. One home was burned in the Lizard Fire.
Families were staying with relatives, friends and in motels in the Benson area, Carol Capas, a Cochise County Sheriffโs Office spokeswoman, said Thursday.
There are about 200 residents in the community of Dragoon, and they have been alerted about evacuations. Dragoon is 17 miles east and northeast of Benson.
The lightning-caused Bowie Fire is 2,261 acres and is burning tall grass and brush in rugged terrain on state Bureau of Land Management lands, said Tiffany Davila, a state Department of Forestry and Fire Management spokeswoman.
Davila said 232 personnel are fighting the blaze with the help of air crews, and the wind conditions will be assessed as to whether planes and helicopters will fly this weekend.
The fire has closed the Fort Bowie National Historic Site, and 15 people were evacuated earlier from the Diamond Mountain Retreat Center in the area.
The Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Red Cross moved its shelter from Benson High School to the Valley Union High School at 4088 E. Jefferson Road in Elfrida, said Mike Sagara, a spokesman for the agency.
The lightning-caused Paige Creek Fire remains at 1,050 acres and is burning in grass on the east side of the Rincon Mountains east of Tucson. Several ranches and structures are in the area. Three hotshot crews are working the fire.
The Saner Fire has burned 354 acres of grass and scrub oak in the Pedregosa Mountains northeast of Douglas.
In 2017, Arizona has seen 830 wildfires that burned about 200 square miles, up from the 819 fires that burned about 165 square miles to date last year, The Associated Press reports.
There are currently 20 active fires in Arizona, and some are controlled burns that donโt endanger homes or landmarks. Arizonaโs wildfire season generally runs from mid-May to early July, but it is extended by several weeks every year, Davila told The Associated Press.
