Tucson Region

Crews hold fires at bay near Payson and on Mt. Graham

Firefighters burned away large swaths of fuel Wednesday, keeping two wildfires in check as they started seeing the first signs of containment. Both the Willow Fire seven miles southwest of Payson and the Nuttall Fire on Mount Graham east of Tucson are now 5 percent contained after successful burnout operations Wednesday. The Willow Fire stayed at about 32,000 acres Wednesday with winds pushing the fire back onto itself allowing firefighters to burn roughly two-mile strip around the control lines, said Gary Roberts, a fire prevention officer. "Even though it looked pretty apocalyptic today, it went really well for us," he said. "We feel really optimistic now." Firefighters have been successful in holding the fire south of the Verde River, preventing it from spreading to the communities of Strawberry and Pine, said Ron Meyer, fire information officer for the Southwest Area Incident Management Team. There are 863 firefighters working the blaze, and suppression costs have reached about $1.5 million. "As you can tell by the numbers, we've brought in a tremendous amount of resources to protect those communities," he said. Crews are using Forest Service road 193 as a fire break to protect Payson from the fire. "There is quite a bit of distance between the burnout and the fire itself, so it will take a day or two for those to meet," he said. Fire crews on the 800-acre Nuttall Fire 17 miles southwest of Safford finished scratching out a containment line around the entire perimeter and spent the day doing burnout operations, said Kim Hunter, a fire information officer on the Nuttall Fire. Eight helicopters dropping retardant and water on the fire have been making steady progress, said Heidi Schewel, another fire information officer. There are 517 personnel working the blaze. Also in Northern Arizona, the Jacket Fire is burning about eight miles south of the Twin Arrows in Piñon-Juniper woodland. It started June 22 and has burned 6,380 acres. Firefighters aren't directly battling the blaze, instead allowing it to burn in a specified, confined area.