Wildfires force evacuations, burn thousands of acres in Arizona

A pair of wildfires burning in Arizona have forced thousands to evacuate as firefighters continue to battle the blazes.

One fire, the Tussock Fire, threatened the towns of Horse Thief, Minihaha and Fort Misery, prompting mandatory evacuation orders for those areas.

“There is significant danger to you, gather necessary items and go,” read a Facebook post on a page operated by the Arizona Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Residents of Crown King were also advised to be ready to evacuate, but were not placed under an evacuation order Sunday evening.

The Tussock wildfire remained zero percent contained as of Sunday evening, and it wasn’t clear initially if any structures had been burned. Several road closures in the area were recorded on the BLM Facebook page.

A second fire, dubbed the Copper Canyon Fire, forced the closure of Interstate 60 and was 35 percent contained at more than 2,600 acres as of Sunday evening, according to the Arizona Department of Forestry. The state’s Department of Transportation tweeted Monday morning that it had no estimate for I-60’s reopening.

#CopperCanyonFire NE of #Globe – 2,652 acres & 35% contained. Add’l growth due to Saturday night’s burning ops as part of suppression efforts. NE side active Sunday as fire consumed unburned island of fuel w/n perimeter of fire. US 60 remains closed in area. #AZFire #AZForestry pic.twitter.com/lmKiDZClUv

— AZ State Forestry (@azstateforestry) May 10, 2021