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Wildfire burning near Biosphere 2 in southern Arizona is 100% contained

Biosphere 2
Jean Clare Sarmiento/KJZZ
Biosphere 2 in Oracle, Arizona.

Crews contained a 13-acre fire a half a mile from the Biosphere 2 science facility in Oracle on Sunday night.

The fire started Sunday morning northwest of the Oracle Junction. Trucks were released from the area, however one engine has been assigned to monitor for hot spots.

No structures were damaged, and the cause is still undetermined. 

Biosphere 2 was built between 1987 and 1991 as a way to test the viability of closed ecological systems and human life in outer space. The tests were held twice in the early 1990s.

Last month, Biosphere 2 was used to test what living in a habitat on another planet might look like.

The facility is owned and operated by the University of Arizona in Tucson.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Due to an editing error, this story has been modified to correct the size of the fire.

Greg Hahne started as a news intern at KJZZ in 2020 and returned as a field correspondent in 2021. He learned his love for radio by joining Arizona State University's Blaze Radio, where he worked on the production team.