The fire originated approximately 15 miles north/northeast of Blue Ridge Reservoir in the Jacks Canyon area near Highway 87. Firefighters experiencing some short to medium range spotting and continue to work along Highway 87 to make sure all hot spots are extinguished. Highway 87 is open and motorists are asked to travel at safe speeds, watch out for firefighters and their operations and are asked to not stop on the highway to take pictures. Mop up operations ongoing on the south and east flanks of the fire, with complete burnout operations on the west flank of the fire. The fire has reached some areas of light fuels on the north end and has stopped spreading west and east of Jacks Canyon. Winds have been approximately 15 to 20 mph, blowing toward the northeast, with occasional shifts toward the southwest due to a storm cell in the area late yesterday. Small amounts of rain fell around the fire yesterday, but nothing significant. The fire is currently 38 percent contained and officials are optimistic for considerable containment sometime this week. Smoke from this fire can be seen throughout Navajo County and into Apache County.

The Canyon fire originated approximately 15 miles north/northeast of Blue Ridge Reservoir in the Jacks Canyon area near Highway 87 in Coconino National Forest. This fire started on June 29th and was lighting caused. Fire crews stated the fire has grown fivefold from about a 1,000 acres on Saturday to about 5,000 acres on Sunday. Current resources assigned: Four crews, five engines, two water tenders, one air attack aircraft, two helicopters, two heavy air tankers, one heli-tanker and approximately 130 personnel. Highway 87 is closed and motorist traveling to or from Winslow must find an alternate route. Closure is expected to continue until about noon tomorrow.

YOUNG, Az. – With smoke subsiding from the Poco Fire in Arizona’s Pleasant Valley and the Mogollon Rim communities, the Central West Zone Interagency Type 3 Incident Management Team turns fire management back to the Tonto National Forest at 9:00 a.m. Friday, June 29, 2012.

On Thursday, the Type 3 team maintained 90 fire personnel, mostly assigned to patrolling the fire’s perimeter and chipping downed trees to remove fuel from the fire zone. “We want to thank our firefighters and the communities we’re working to protect. We encourage the public to practice fire safety because the trees and shrubs are very dry and we remain in extreme fire danger,” says Andy Mandell, the incident commander trainee.

Mandell points out that two Type 1 firefighting crews and two engines will stay at the Pleasant Valley Ranger District along with miscellaneous fire personnel during the transition and due to the extreme fire danger.

As recreation increases in the area over the 4th of July, visitors and residents are warned to stay out of the Poco Fire zone as smoldering continues. Trees could fall and hotspots remain. For continued information, the public may contact the Pleasant Valley Ranger District in Young, Arizona, at: 928-462-4300