What started as an innocent campfire has set a huge portion of eastern Arizona ablaze, and caused the evacuation of roughly 10,000 residents so far. While firefighters work to extinguish what could become the worst fire ever recorded in Arizona, they concede that the situation is largely "in nature's hands." Here, a guide to the "monster" inferno raging in the Grand Canyon State:
Just how bad is the fire?
Since May 29, the Wallow Fire has charred 600 square miles of land and destroyed roughly 30 homes. As the blaze creeps toward the New Mexico border, more than 5,000 structures remain threatened. Luckily, no one has been killed, but three injuries have been reported. The fire also threatens major power lines that, if hit, could cause blackouts up to 200 miles away. The fire has already become "the second-largest ever recorded in Arizona," according to NPR, and only 5 percent of the blaze is contained.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
Why is it so hard to control?
Extremely dry weather through late winter and spring left the land parched and vulnerable. That, coupled with high winds and brush buildup from overgrown ponderosa pine trees, makes for a fiery feast that sends embers flying. "The fire is so intense, has so much heat, that it actually forms its own thunderstorm at the top of the smoke plume," Alex Hoon, a National Weather Service meteorologist, told ABC News. The resulting winds only create new fires.
Is there any hope the blaze will die down soon?
"It's all in nature's hand," local fire chief Jeff Piechura told TIME. The wind died down on Thursday and Friday but is expected to pick up again on Saturday, giving crews only a brief window of time to fight the blaze. Fire crews are trying to burn up trees ahead of the fire in an attempt to choke it out, and helicopters are dropping water and fire retardant on the flames. When the wind dies down, and the fire runs out of dense fuel to burn, there might be improvement. Until then, Piechura says, "the fire's going to keep on running."
Sources: ABC News, TIME, NPR, Daily Mail, Associated Press
