She said she and her husband grabbed their three dogs but left a couple of cats behind as they faced what she described as a “wall of fire.” “This time was different, right there in your backyard,” said Kathy Vollmer, a resident.
The scene was all too familiar for residents who recalled rushing to pack their bags and flee a dozen years ago when a much larger wildfire burned in the same area. Various organizations worked to set up shelters for evacuees and animals, including goats and horses. “We don’t know if he made it out or not,” Driscoll said. He said his office got a call about a man who was trapped inside his house, but firefighters couldn’t get to him. Firefighters and law enforcement officers went door to door telling people to evacuate but had to pull out to avoid getting boxed in, said Coconino County Sheriff Jim Driscoll. “But depending on the intensity of the fire, fire can still move across cinders.”Īuthorities won’t be able to determine whether anyone was injured in the wildfire until the flames subside. “It’s good in that it’s not headed toward a very populated area, and it’s headed toward less fuel,” Smith said. Regional related: Colorado governor on wildfire: This hit close to home
The fire was moving northeast away from the more heavily populated areas of Flagstaff, home to Northern Arizona University, and toward Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, said Coconino National Forest spokesman Brady Smith. The county declared an emergency after the wildfire ballooned from 100 acres (40 hectares) Tuesday morning to over 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) by evening and to 26 square miles (67 square kilometers) by Wednesday morning.
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