Aerostat Fire In Huachuca Mountains 60 Percent Contained

Firefighters in southern Arizona say they have the latest blaze burning in the Huachuca Mountains , nearly contained. The Aerostat Fire scorched about 90 acres but was 60 percent contained late Sunday.

Coronado National Forest spokeswoman Heidi Schewel says firefighters have built a line completely around the blaze but are waiting to call it contained until they can determine if the line holds up to overnight winds.

“What they’re experiencing now is a low level of fire behavior,” Schewel said. “Things are looking really good at this point.”

Schewel says pre-evacuation orders for those near the blaze have been lifted but warns those in fire-prone areas should always be thinking about what they’ll do if a fire comes their way. She says the forest service is doing what it can to help.

“There’s a campaign going on,” Schewel said. “It’s called ‘One Less Spark—One Less Wildfire’ and that is, it encourages people to think about activities that they engage in that could create the spark that could start a fire.”

Schewel says in addition to big problems like throwing a cigarette butt out the window and leaving a fire unattended, things as simple as hitting a rock with a lawn mower can cause the spark that starts a wildfire.