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Cottonwood Ridge Fire Quick Facts

Acres: 345
Cause: Lightning
Containment: 50%
Start Date: July 23, 2023
Location: 4 miles south of Show Low, AZ
Fuels: Timber, grass, brush

Snake Ridge Fire Quick Facts
Acres: 42 acres
Cause: Lightning
Containment: 50%
Start Date: July 28, 2023
Location: 11 miles southwest of Show Low, AZ.
Fuels:  Grass, Brush

Total personnel for all incidents: 418 (Cottonwood Ridge, Snake Ridge, Spoon, and new start fires)

Monday’s rainfall helped the crews with gaining containment of the fires, but the accompanying thunderstorms resulted in nine additional new fire starts on Fort Apache. Five of the new fires are currently being managed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Southwest Area Incident Management Team 5 (SWA IMT 5) is assisting with the remaining four.

The new starts include a two-acre fire southwest of the Snake Ridge Fire. A dozer in the area quickly constructed fireline around the entire perimeter, while air resources dropped buckets of water on heat sources. A separate new start was contained. Smoke was spotted about four miles north of the incident command post along highway 60 and crews responded.

With the dry fuels, higher temperatures and low relative humidity forecasted in the coming days, we are expecting possible new starts and have firefighters ready for initial attack response.

Cottonwood Ridge Fire Update: Crews are continuing to work on improving firelines, mopping up areas and seeking out hotspots. Due to the lack of visible smoke, hotspots continue to be difficult to find by crews.

Snake Ridge Fire Update: The crews did great work on the fire yesterday with progress on mop up and line securement, resulting in an increase of containment by 25%. The fire is now 50% contained. Firefighters will continue to seek out hotspots and secure fireline to increase containment.

Weather: Warmer and drier weather is expected on Wednesday, with only isolated thunderstorms and showers.

Evacuations: None.

Residents and visitors should take time to become familiar with the Ready, Set, Go evacuation model. Sign up for the Navajo County Alert System at https://tinyurl.com/y4vwrasw.

Smoke: Smoke may still be visible as pockets of heat continue to smolder. For information on smoke and air quality, visit https://www.airnow.gov.

Closures: Highway 60 remains open. The southwest portion of Fort Apache is closed, including all Salt River sites within the closure area.

Fire Restrictions: There are several fire restrictions in place depending on location.

• Fort Apache Agency: Stage 2 Fire Restrictions
  • No campfire, fireworks, outdoor smoking, debris burning or discharging of firearms. Power saws cannot be used between 10 am and 8 pm. All motorized travel is restricted to developed roads.
• Show Low, Navajo County and Apache Sitgreaves National Forests: Stage 1 Fire Restrictions
  • No campfires (except in developed recreation sites), no smoking outdoors, no welding, no fireworks.