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Although Flagstaff saw its share of wildfire, the rest of Arizona escapes major damage

The Flagstaff area has gone through a difficult fire season and continues to deal with the aftermath.

But most of the state managed to get through the season without any major fires.

After a dry winter, forest managers were bracing for a long summer. Campfire restrictions came early, and one of the first blazes of the season, the Tunnel Fire, erupted in April.

But an early monsoon has brought moisture back to the forest, and about a hundred thousand acres have burned in fires throughout the state. To put that in context, one fire – the Telegraph Fire – burned a hundred and eighty thousand acres last year.

Elvy Barton is with Salt River Project.

“We didn’t receive a lot of precipitation during the springtime. Luckily, though, we have an early monsoon pattern on the Salt and Verde watershed, and we are seeing above normal precipitation on the two watersheds,” she said.

Although the Flagstaff area endured most of the season’s toll, a fire in southern Arizona in June damaged buildings at Kitt Peak observatory.

Ron Dungan was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2020 to 2024.