Smoke from the Pocket Fire has drifted north, over the body of the fire, and has inundated Flagstaff for days.
That’s negatively impacted air quality, but fire spokesperson Dick Fleishman says it’s also helped moderate fire behavior.
“It's like having cloud cover over it. It's a good 5 degrees cooler. There's no direct sunlight on the fuels, heating it up. So, it actually changes our fire behavior that that smoke that goes over the top of our fire,” he says.
After a weekend of high winds, Fleishman says crews have been helped by cooler temperatures as they burn areas west of the blaze.
He says they don’t want to let the fire burn up the West Fork of Oak Creek Canyon, get around their lines, and again advance toward Flagstaff.
Fleishman says those burns will continue until they connect up areas they burned last week along their original lines.
Those efforts have grown the fire substantially. It was reported at 15,300 acres Tuesday morning.
During a public virtual meeting Monday night, officials said they’re in talks about when to reopen Highway 89A through Oak Creek Canyon to traffic.
Fire lines southwest of the canyon have held for more than a week, but fire managers say there’s still a risk to the area.
Coconino County Sheriff Bret Axlund says he can't be sure the road will reopen before the fourth of July weekend.
