Acres: 184,531 acres (based on infrared flight)
Percent Containment: 15%
Start Date: Saturday, June 13, 2020
Cause: Human-caused
Origin Location: 22 miles NE of Mesa, AZ
Fuels: Tall grass and brush
Resources: 846 total including 11 Type 1 Crews; 8 Type 2 Crews; 46 Engines; 5 bulldozers; 21 water tenders; 9 helicopters
Expect to See Fire and Smoke as Fuels Within the Bush Fire’s Perimeter Continue to Burn; Firefighters Also Responding to the Central Fire; Online Community Meeting 6pm Tonight
Yesterday firefighters brought fire off Mount Ord and tied it in to SR 87 on the northwest side of the fire. Firefighters will be holding the area today. Firefighters will continue to patrol and protect communities as needed.
Residents along the Highway 188 corridor should expect to see fire and smoke as fuels burn within the large pocket of unburned fuel within the fire’s perimeter. Interactive Bush Fire perimeter map: https://tinyurl.com/Bush-Fire-Map
Firefighters continue to use sing a range of tactics to fully suppress the fire. They are working to protect values at risk including nearby communities, state highways, communication sites and power lines.
The incident management team has assumed command of the Central Fire. https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6792/
There will be an online community meeting tonight on the Bush and Central Fires at 6 pm on Fb.com/bushfireinfo. An American Sign Language interpreter and captioning will be provided. A recording will be posted following the meeting.
No account is required to view the video. If a pop-up box appears when you first navigate to the link, you can use the scroll bar on the right to scroll down to the view and/or click “not now” to minimize the login pop-up. We will monitor online Facebook questions during the meeting or you can e-mail us your questions at 2020.bush@firenet.gov.
Sunflower and residents and visitors to Apache Lake remain under “Go” evacuation notice. The communities of Tonto Basin, Punkin Center, Pioneer Pass, Brownsville, Slate Creek, and Jake’s Creek have returned to “Set” mode. Gisela, Rye,
Deer Creek, 76 Ranch and Bar T Bar Ranch (BT Ranch) remain in “Set” status. Evacuation and shelter info map: https://tinyurl.com/bushfirepublicinfo. Visit Maricopa County https://ready.maricopa.gov/ and Gila County: www.readygila.com/ for more information.
Smoke Outlook: https://fires.airfire.org/outlooks/CentralArizona
Visit https://az511.com/ or call 511 for current road closure information. State Route 87 is closed from Payson (milepost 251) to Bush Highway (milepost 199). State Route 188 is closed between SR 87 (milepost 276) and Roosevelt Lake at milepost 243. In addition, State Route 88 is closed between Apache Lake (milepost 229) to State Route 188 (milepost 242). The long-term SR 88 closure from east of Tortilla Flat to Apache Lake also remains in effect.
The Tonto National Forest has an area closure surrounding the Bush Fire. Fire restrictions remain in place. Details are available at https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/tonto/alerts-notices.
Wildfires are a No Drone Zone. If you fly, we can’t. Every time a drone is spotted near the fire all aircraft are grounded until we can be sure the drone is clear of this area. More info visit http://knowbeforeyoufly.org.
Fire Information: 928-351-7596 (public) 928-351-7723 (media)
Inciweb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6773/ Facebook: Fb.com/bushfireinfo
Email: 2020.bush@firenet.gov Twitter: twitter.com/TontoForest
Inciweb.nwcg.gov
