Fire season in Northern Arizona is a perennial threat to our homes, businesses, recreational spaces and landmarks. Fire season typically begins in May, intensifies at the tail end of the month, peaks in early June and, depending on monsoon rains, extends into late June. It can go as late as July or early August if the monsoon rains are light or delayed.

During March and April, fire agencies recommend residents prepare their properties by clearing defensible space around their homes, which means picking up debris and yard waste, trimming trees and removing objects that could catch fire and spread to adjacent homes or outbuildings. Contact your local fire agency and have a fire marshal check your property and provide recommendations to keep it safe from fire.

Arizona’s “fire season” is based on a set of specific conditions, which include dry weather and weeks without significant rainfall. We had an unusually warm and dry winter with only a smattering of snow flurries that lasted half a day, followed by the two big snow storms this month. Wet winters help vegetation thrive in the spring, creating a heavy fuel load that can burn in fire season. Short-term droughts increase fire risks regardless of time of year.

The Verde Valley, being a basin, is not as susceptible to heavy sustained winds found in other places. The wide-open plains that lead into Flagstaff from the east and west generate high winds and the infamous Santa Ana winds of Los Angeles pick up speed on the hot, flat Mohave Desert sweeping out to sea.

Our communities are geographically and meteorologically unlikely to face much risk from natural wildfires generated in the wilderness and sweeping into town on the wind; their risk is due to human causes within communities that are then pushed along by localized winds or weather.

Localized winds can be devastating when it comes to wildfires near residential communities. In 2022, the Tunnel Fire near Flagstaff burned 19,088 acres. While not that large, relatively speaking, it swept east down the San Francisco Peaks, destroyed 30 homes and damaged more than 100. Several thousand people in the Doney Park areas outside Flagstaff were evacuated or put on notice to flee. Two months later, the 5,575- acre Haywire Fire and 26,532-acre Pipeline Fire began on the edges of the Tunnel Fire’s burn scar and led to more evacuations.

Wildfires have innumerable causes, such as spot fires caused by lightning, careless drivers with cigarettes, loose chains or mechanical failures, unextinguished campfires and very rarely arsonists, accidental or intentional.

The La Barranca Fire in the Village of Oak Creek was caused by sparks from fence welders in 2006. The Brins Fire later that year was from a transient’s campfire. The cause of the 21,227-acre Slide Fire in Oak Creek Canyon in 2014 was never determined, but as it started at the north end of Slide Rock State Park on a cloudless, sunny day, humans are suspected as the cause. The 78,065-acre Rafael Fire in 2021 was sparked by lightning. In 2023, a wildfire burned over 100 acres of grassland at Tavasci Marsh near Clarkdale, an area that only reopened to the public in 2024.

Blazes in the Verde Valley near populated areas tend to get snuffed out relatively fast because of our adept and hyper-vigilant fire districts and fire departments. The Sedona Fire District, Verde Valley Fire District, Copper Canyon Fire & Medical District in Camp Verde, Cottonwood Fire Department and Jerome Volunteer Fire Department work surprisingly well given diverse and varying terrain and the jurisdictional and intergovernmental factors. When lives, homes or properties are threatened, fire crews from various agencies join together to battle the threat. The bureaucratic hassles that hinder other government agencies don’t do the same with firefighters and during a major fire, bystanders will see various firefighting apparatus from numerous agencies. Governments can accomplish amazing feats and save many lives when united by common purpose and plan ahead what to do when crews show up at a scene.

Be hyper-vigilant from your home. If you see smoke, call 911 immediately, post photos to social media as soon as you can and contact us so we can get the word out, check with fire agencies and post notices to warn neighbors.

Don’t build campfires in areas under fire restrictions or when it’s windy. If someone throws a lit cigarette from a car window, don’t just curse, call 911 and report the license plate. Don’t smoke on forest land, and if you see someone smoking on a trail, politely inform them of the dangers and tell them to extinguish their cigarette. It is up to our community as a whole to prevent tragedy this fire season.