Willow Fire in northwestern Arizona grows to 6,000 acres

MONDAY UPDATE: Weather helps crews fight Willow Fire

Wildfire crews battling a rapidly growing fire in northwestern Arizona near the Colorado River have called in help from California, Oregon and Washington states.

The Willow Fire, which was first reported near Needles, Calif., on Saturday morning, has grown to around 6,000 acres and has prompted a widening evacuation of as many as 1,000 homes in the Mohave Valley area. Needles is on the Arizona-California border about 40 miles northwest of Lake Havasu City.

The fire damaged 11 structures, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, without elaborating on the extent of the damage or type of structured torched. There were no reports Sunday of injuries.

The cause of the fire, which is zero percent contained, remains under investigation, but local fire officials expressed confidence they've steered flames to the least destructive path.

But the weather is unlikely to cooperate soon and erratic wind gusts could change the outlook.

The National Weather Service predicts continued hot temperatures and dropping humidity. Highs were projected to top out at 108 degrees Monday afternoon, according to the Weather Service, adding there was no chance of rain to help drench the flames. Winds from the south are expected to pick up throughout the day, ranging from 10 to 25 miles-per-hour, while humidity should drop to between 10 and 15 percent.

Fire commanders on Sunday afternoon ordered a Type 2 federal fire-management team, which is scheduled to set up in the area Monday morning. A Type 1 fire is the most serious.

The federal team is being brought in due to the "complexity of the situation," U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Dolores Garcia said.

Around 300 personnel have been dispatched to the fire including 20 engines, four hotshot crews,three helicopters and one Department of Corrections crew, according to Garcia. Resources from San Bernardino, California; Oregon; Washington and the California Department of Forestry have been dispatched to aide in combating the blaze.

Two air tankers and other aircraft were dispatched to the Willow Fire early Sunday afternoon, according to records at the Southwest Coordination Center. The Albuquerque-based center coordinates the deployment of firefighting resources, such as aircraft and hotshot teams, throughout the U.S. Southwest.The fire near the Colorado River grew dramatically Sunday. At the beginning of the day, fire teams reported a 2,000-acre blaze and 150 evacuated homes. By midday, it had more than doubled, and officials widened the evacuation zone to encompass another 850 homes in some Mohave Valley neighborhoods.

Fire crews reported flames climbing as high as 75 feet and satellite radar images showed the smoke drifting toward Las Vegas, where television crews reported that the smoke was visible.

Mohave County Sheriff"s Office spokeswoman Trish Carter confirmed that authorities are working on evacuating residents around the blaze, with help from the Red Cross.

The Red Cross has opened a shelter at the Mohave Valley Elementary School, and a mandatory evacuation order is currently in place for all residents south of Laguna Road and east of Vanderslice Road in Mohave Valley, according to a Mohave County Emergency Management release.

Red Cross officials said only two people stayed overnight from Saturday. It remains unclear how many will need the shelters Sunday night, but volunteers had room for about 100 evacuees, and were serving around a dozen Sunday evening.

There, evacuees like Mohave Valley resident Andrew Kutch awaited news about the fate of their homes.

Kutch fled his home near Plantation Road and Fremont Road. He was told to leave around 3 p.m. when the flames got within three-quarters of a mile of his house.

“I was outside hosing my roof off when they told us to evacuate,” Kutch said.

Kutch tried to round up all of his pets, but one dog and cat refused to cooperate so he had to leave them behind.

He managed to grab his insurance information and about four days of clothing before he and his wife, Cindi, left.

Two of his friend’s homes in the Rancheros were damaged, but didn’t know the fate of his home, he said.

The picture was chaotic partly because of the checkerboard pattern of land use in the area - farms, desert, marshland, sparse ranch homes and subdivisions, on a mix of public and private lands.

The area's typically erratic winds, which shifted direction throughout the day, also contributed.

The fire erupted Saturday morning in a dense patch of salt cedar, cottonwood and mesquite about a mile north of the Lake Havasu Wildlife Refuge, said Mohave Valley Fire Marshall Don Gibson. Gibson said the got the call at 10 a.m. Saturday, but had trouble reaching the initial blaze because of the thick foliage.

The fire started moving west but then winds shifted and pushed it northwards into a subdivision called the Rancheros, a sparsely populated subdivision at Ranchero Road and Courtwright Road where some homes are blocks apart. This is where much of the damage to structures occurred.

While no one has declared any official containment, Gibson said crews have a handle on the fire in most directions.

The main focus is on the blaze as it moves west towards the subdivision at Plantation Road, east of Harbor Avenue.

Gibson crews are building a containment line to prevent the fire from touching that subdivision. He said directly behind the line the crews are cotton fields which the farmer had already flooded with irrigation water adding an extra layer of protection.

Gibson said as long as strong winds don’t move into the area and cause the fire to jump the Colorado River to the southeast, crews should be able to keep the blaze under control.

Officials extended the evacuation order Sunday to homes in the Marina Coves, Tangerine Terrace, River View, and Aqua View subdivisions.

Trudy Thompson Rice, communications officer for the American Red Cross' Grand Canyon Chapter urges anyone in the area to stay in close contact with loved ones and to monitor local news for updates. Residents should prepare a suitcase or bag with their medications, clothes and personal papers in case they are evacuated or need to move quickly, she said.

The BLM has been utilizing aircraft to combat the fire, which is currently under investigation, Garcia said. Garcia began receiving calls about the blaze shortly after 3 p.m. but the exact time the fire started is still unclear.

Dry brush as well as willow trees are fueling the flames, making it a "very active fire," Garcia said. Crews from Yuma, Kingman and the Colorado River BLM districts are responding to the fire.

Firefighters will be battling the blaze through the night with 20 fire engines on the scene, according to Garcia.

Lynnette Round, a spokeswoman for Cal Fire, stated they are monitoring the situation but have not dedicated any resources to the fire yet.

County Route 1 at Plantation and all roads within the evacuation locations are closed due to the fire.

"We are doing our best to lessen the impact on the community," Garcia said.

A shelter for larger animals has been established at the Needles Fairgrounds and displaced residents with smaller pets can bring them to the Red Cross shelter, Garcia said.

A Facebook page, www.facebook.com/willowfireaz, for updates on the fire was created by BLM in order to help keep the public informed.

Likewise, Red Cross volunteers are trying to help those displaced by the fire.

Anyone wanting to donate to relief efforts is asked to give money online at redcross.org to the Western Wildfire Fund. The Red Cross says that donate clothing and food is less useful.

By nightfall Sunday, fire crews were exhausted. Gibson said after fighting the blaze for 32 hours, he was heading home. Sunrise and the weather that follows will determine when, or if, residents of Mohave Valley will be as lucky.

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