His department received a fire call at 10:58 a.m. When the department’s first firefighting unit arrived at 11:11 a.m., the fire was heading north and east and already covered 300 acres, said Wunder. His family has the grazing permit for the Santa Rita Ranch but he was working, away from his house there, when the fire began, Wunder said.

Before the fire was largely contained a week later, it had jumped over the Santa Ritas and crossed Arizona 83 to attack the historic Empire Ranch and the surrounding 42,000-acre Las Cienegas National Conservation Area. Although the fire didn’t damage any buildings, it prompted authorities to put hundreds of neighboring homeowners on pre-evacuation notice. It put scores of homes, ranches and outbuildings, communications facilities and power lines at risk for several days and temporarily closed a section of Arizona 83.

The Forest Service is conducting an investigation of the blaze. It and other agencies have been reluctant to discuss how it started during the probe. The Forest Service has refused a Freedom of Information Act request to turn over records on the blaze to the Star. The Pima County Sheriff’s Department has said its records must first go through a legal review before being released. The State Land Department has not formally responded to the newspaper’s records request.