FLAGSTAFF — Crews continued Friday building line around the now 20,924-acre Tunnel Fire northeast of Flagstaff, while battling high winds and welcoming unusual precipitation in the form of scattered rain and sporadic snow showers.

Snow and rain did help douse dry grasses and keep them from igniting more easily, but precipitation levels weren’t high enough to affect large burning logs and extreme hotspots across most of the fire. High winds also resulted in drying out precipitation very quickly after it dropped.

Two areas of the fire were active even with the moisture. The spot fire that began last night on 89 Mesa in the Schultz Fire burn scar grew to 500 acres today, with large down trees left over from the Schultz Fire helping keep the spot alive. Firefighters were able to create a line around the entire spot fire, but strong winds continued to cultivate dry conditions.

The second active area was in the northeast portion of the fire in the Strawberry Crater Wilderness area. This finger of the Tunnel Fire burned actively and fortunately moved out into flatter terrain and sparser fuel which is expected to slow the fire’s growth.

Across the rest of the fire, bulldozers and hand crews are building line around the edge of the fire between O’Leary Peak and Black Mountain and crews continued to patrol and mop up hot spots in the Timberline Estates and Wupatki Trails subdivisions, as well as along the southern flank of the fire along Forest Road 545.

Strong shifting winds out of the north and east forecast for Saturday and Sunday are still a major concern for fire managers, who are hesitant to call certain areas contained until these wind events pass, so have stuck with a containment number of 3 percent.

Current firefighting resources on scene include 371 firefighters, nine 20-person hand crews, five dozers, 30 engines, one air attack plane, two Type 1 helicopters, and one Type 3 helicopter.

FLAGSTAFF – The Tunnel Fire has grown to over 20,000 acres due to high wind conditions throughout northern Arizona. A Type I management team will be taking over this morning. The rain and snow predicted for today may help a little. The key focus of fire fighters lately has been to protect residences, buildings and the watershed and keeping the fire from moving up steep slopes.

Helicopters aided in fire suppression efforts yesterday on the 20,198-acre Tunnel Fire, while crews continued making progress dowsing hotspots along the fire’s western flank near Forest Road 420 (Schultz Pass Road) and around Timberline Estates and Wupatki Trail subdivisions.

In addition, hand crews continued establishing handline on the southern edge of the fire east of the Pinnacle Peak 345KV powerline and on the north edge of the fire below and east of O’Leary Peak. They will continue looking for opportunities to extend these fire lines to the east.

“Even though we haven’t declared a percentage of containment on this fire yet, there has been a lot of work, progress, and investment on line construction around many parts of the Tunnel Fire,” said Deputy Incident Commander Shelby Erickson. “However, we won’t be declaring areas with line around them as ‘contained’ until we’re confident the line will hold during the forecasted high and shifting winds through the next few days.”

Windy conditions are expected to continue into Friday with a slight chance of moisture and higher humidity to accompany Friday’s winds. Saturday and Sunday, winds are forecasted to be up to 20 mph, but coming out of the northwest and northeast, that could potentially push embers out of the fire to the south and west.

The Coconino National Forest has instituted a Forest Closure Order for the area affected by the Tunnel Fire.

Current firefighting resources on scene include 371 firefighters, nine 20-person hand crews, five dozers, 30 engines, one air attack plane, two Type 1 helicopters, and one Type 3 helicopter. A Type 1 Incident Management Team began arriving today and will be supporting current fire suppression efforts into the future.

FLAGSTAFF — At zero containment, the Tunnel Fire located 14 miles northeast of Flagstaff has grown substantially due to high winds and spread toward the northeast at high rate, eventually moving across U.S. Highway 89.

Fire managers currently estimate the fire to be approximately 6,000 acres, and more than 200 firefighters and personnel are currently assigned to the fire.

Area evacuations have been ordered, and up-to-date evacuation information can be found via the Coconino County Tunnel Fire page. Evacuees can also call the Coconino County Emergency Call Center at 928-679-8525. Coconino County Supervisors have declared a State of Emergency and are awaiting the signature of the Governor.

Structures threatened include the community in Doney Park near the fire, and we cannot confirm as of this news release whether or not any homes have been destroyed.

Current firefighting resources include five handcrews, 15 engines, and three dozers. Air tankers were ordered earlier this afternoon to aid in the firefight but were diverted due to high winds that surpassed wind thresholds for air resource purposes. Partner agencies such as Flagstaff Fire Department, Summit FD, Highlands FD, and state crews have also aided in intial and continued response.

A Type I Incident Management Team has been ordered and personnel, assets and resources from the team will arrive over the next two days.

U.S Highway 89 is closed between mileposts 425-435, so motorists traveling toward Page will need to find an alternate route.