Bighorn Fire
The Bighorn Fire is an active wildfire in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona.[4] It has burned 107,000 acres (43,301 ha) and is 45% contained as of June 29, 2020. A lightning strike from a storm the evening of June 5, 2020 caused the fire.[5] The fire was named after the bighorn sheep the inhabit the mountain range.
Bighorn Fire | |
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Location | Santa Catalina Mountains, near Tucson, Arizona[1] |
Coordinates | 32.378°N 110.943°W |
Statistics | |
Cost | $30.1 million[2] |
Date(s) | June 5, 2020 –present |
Burned area | 107,099 acres (43,341 ha) |
Cause | Lightning |
Non-fatal injuries | 7[3] |
Map | |
![]() ![]() Location in Arizona |
As of June 15, 2020, 7 hotshot crews, 8 type 2 hand crews, 27 type 3 engines, 1 type 4 engine, 25 type 6 engines, 4 type 1 helicopters, 1 type 2 helicopter, 2 type 3 helicopters, 9 water tenders, and 6 bulldozers are working on the fire.[1]
The fire has threatened hundreds of homes[6] and the Pima County Sheriff's Department has asked residents in the area to evacuate. The first evacuations occurred in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood in Northern Tucson. The following day, residents in the Oro Valley section of the Catalina Foothills were ordered to evacuate.[7] On June 16, Mount Lemmon and Summerhaven were evacuated.[8]
As of June 27, the fire is 45% contained. The fire was at 40% containment once before, but fire crews working on the fire had lost containment and it dipped down to 16% before rising again. Fire crews have struggled to fight the fire due to the heat and dry weather. The majority of the days since the fire begun had over 100 degree temperatures with low humidity, as is typical in June in Tucson.[1]
References
- "Incident Overview,". InciWeb.
- "UPDATE: Bighorn Fire". KOLD.com.
- Potter, Payton. "Bighorn Fire: 81,702 Acres Burned, 33% Contained On Thursday". Patch.com. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
- "Bighorn fire near Tucson has burned over 6,000 acres and is threatening hundreds of homes". Retrieved 12 June 2020.
- "Bighorn Information - InciWeb the Incident Information System". inciweb.nwcg.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
- Devoid, Alex (11 June 2020). "Bighorn Fire map: Fire near Tucson threatening hundreds of homes".
- Childs, Jan Wesner (11 June 2020). "Arizona's Bighorn Wildfire Forces Evacuations Near Tucson".
- "Mount Lemmon, Summerhaven under evacuation as crews battle Bighorn Fire". Tucson.com.