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WILLIAMS (NAZ Today, 9:45 PM)– A rapidly-spreading wildfire has forced 50 people to evacuate from their homes northeast of Williams.
Smoke from the Eagle Rock Fire over the San Francisco Peaks, as seen from Meteor Crater near Winslow (Photo: Patrick Walker/NAZ Today)
The Kaibab National Forest is reporting that the Eagle Rock Fire scorched 1,000 acres on Wednesday. Sustained southwest winds of 25 miles per hour with gusts to 55 mph prevented air tankers from fighting the fire, although helicopters were active throughout the day.
250 firefighters are fighting the fire as of 9 pm, and they will continue to fight the fire overnight. The Northern Arizona Type-2 Incident Management Team will take over management of the fire starting Thursday morning, according to Kaibab National Forest officials.
KNF Fire Information Officer Punky Moore said in a release that the fire spread rapidly during the day Wednesday and firefighters had to keep up with the fire spotting, meaning embers blown ahead of the main blaze were starting small fires, helping it to grow.
Coconino County Sheriff’s Office deputies and volunteers went door-to-door issuing evacuation orders to Spring Valley residences located between Forest Service Rd 76 and County Rd 141, near the junction with County Rd 144. Around 50 people ended up evacuating, according to Moore.
3:30 PM cell phone picture from I-40 in Williams (Courtesy: Donia Gillespie)
Four air tankers are on order to help fight the fire when the winds in the area die down.
The cause of the blaze is listed as unknown as Wednesday evening.
Forecasters are expecting the winds to be much lighter for Thursday.
The fire was first spotted and reported by the Kendrick Mountain fire lookout tower late this morning.
Stick with NAZToday.com for continuing coverage of the Eagle Rock Fire.
I’m worried about my boyfriend, ryan martinez, he left this afternoon to fight the fire w his force from pine top. I know he’s fighting bravely, n from the picture he sent me of the smoke its looks Horrible! God bless all the firefighters and forest service men. Keep Them safe!