Arizona National Guard officials say crews continue to manage a lightning-caused fire within Camp Navajo west of Flagstaff.
The Americana Fire began on Tuesday, Aug. 11 and has grown to about 95 acres.
Major Erin Hannigan says the fire is burning in an area of the largely forested, 17,000-acre camp that hasn’t seen natural fire in nearly 75 years.
“This allows us the ability to clear a significant amount of things like dead and downed vegetation, so it really allows us to clean up the area,” she says.
According to Hannigan, 24 personnel are working the blaze, including the Camp Navajo fire brigade and other National Guard members who train as firefighters.
Hannigan says the fire isn’t threatening any structures on or off the base, but residents should expect smoke to continue in the coming days.
Fire managers hope to burn about 200 acres to the camp’s edge, but they say monsoon rains expected later this week could dampen the blaze.
They say those rains could halt the fire’s growth closer to 110 acres.
A smaller lightning-caused blaze that broke out last week, dubbed the Battlefield Fire, burned itself out Monday.
