Crews: Arizona fire threat diminishing

PHOENIX — Crews battling the Arizona wildfire near Sedona have finished creating a perimeter around the blaze, but there was no indication Tuesday of when a mandatory evacuation order for the area might be lifted.

The Slide Fire, first reported at about 4 p.m. on May 20, is burning in Oak Creek Canyon just north of Slide Rock State Park.

Officials believe the fire was human-caused, and the case remains under investigation.

As of Tuesday, the blaze had burned 20,328 acres, or nearly 32 square miles, and was 35% contained, said Matt Smyers, a public-information officer for the fire crews.

More than 300 structures, including private home, resort cabins and a Forest Service lookout tower, remained threatened by the fire, according to fire administrators, though that threat had substantially diminished.

Crews have been able to keep the fire from damaging any structures in the area.

The decision whether to lift the mandatory evacuation order for Oak Creek Canyon from Slide Rock State Park to Sterling Springs Hatchery will be made by the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, Smyers said.

Crews are expected to begin rehabilitating the area from the switchbacks south toward the canyon.

"For us, what that means is moving a lot of those dead and down trees, cutting them up, putting them in the chipper, cleaning up the area and hauling off that trash," he said.

Smyers directed residents to the Slide Fire's Facebook and Flickr pages for a peek inside Oak Creek Canyon.

"Honestly, it looks really good," he said. "Obviously a fire has gone through there.

"Most of the areas people want to go to are still beautiful."

Higher temperatures, drier air and wind are expected to test the perimeter in the next couple of days, Smyers said.

"The fire behavior with that hotter and drier time, could change a little bit," he said.

"But we feel really confident about the perimeter we have so we are not expecting major events."

Smyers said officials are confident about the fire lines to the north and west of the blaze.

"What we're going to see today in these areas are some minimal isolated torching of some green areas that are more on the interior of the fire," he said.

"We might get some isolated torching of the bigger ponderosa pine trees."

About 1,100 personnel remained on scene, Smyers said. Crews completed nighttime operations Monday night, Smyers said.

"We feel really confident with what we have because we've been able to close that gap and just shut the door on the whole perimeter as of last night," he said.