Photo By Superstition Fire and Medical District: The Woodbury Fire has grown to more than 96,000 acres as of Sunday morning.
By Jon Johnson
SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS WILDERNESS – The Woodbury Fire continued to grow over the weekend and increased to 96,307 acres as of Sunday morning.
Due to the increase in size, the containment perimeter dropped to 24 percent. Crews performed burnouts around established perimeter lines and the previous containment lines have held, but since the fire has grown so much away from the lines the percentage has decreased exponentially.
However, with favorable weather hitting the area and the fire now in different vegetation, minimal growth is expected for the near future.
The human-caused fire began June 8 roughly five miles northwest of Superior. As of Sunday, the west side of the fire northeast of Apache Junction showed no growth as its containment lines were holding.
Crews continue to monitor and reinforce the eastern edge of the fire and structure protection efforts around the Top of the World community continued Sunday. The Roosevelt Estates and other infrastructure in the area near Roosevelt Lake will also see continued structure protection measures. On Thursday, an evacuation order was issued for that area and affected approximately 250 residences.
The bulk of the firefighting resources are being allocated to the northwest, east and southeast sides of the fire.
Currently, there are 905 firefighters assigned to battle the blaze, which is burning grasses at all elevations. The fire is burning cacti, mesquite, and grasses at lower elevations and Pinyon Pine – Juniper mix at higher elevations.
