Firefighters have halted the advance of the Spur Fire about 100 miles northwest of Phoenix. They were assisted by aircraft that dropped fire retardant on the flames. But 13 homes, utility lines and other buildings were destroyed. We’re in extreme to exceptional drought across pretty much most of the state. Our vegetation is drought-stricken. Any type of spark within this dry fuel bed is going to start a fast-moving wildfire, says Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management
spokesperson Tiffany Davila.
About 575 Bagdad residents were ordered to evacuate Thursday shortly after the fire broke out. Officials are investigating the cause and say it may have been started by a road construction crew. Fire managers across the state are on high alert going into the holiday weekend, and fire restrictions are in effect on most national forests and public lands.
Yavapai County Sheriff’s officials have ordered the evacuation of 575 residents in the town of Bagdad as crews battle a wildfire.
A wildfire in Bagdad has forced the evacuation of 575 people. A separate wildfire has also prompted authorities to evacuate some residents in Dewey.
Credit Yavapai County Sheriff s Office
Those north of Main Street and east of Lindahl Road have been given the Go order and they can shelter at the Hassayampa Elemetary School in Wickenburg.
Firefighters are also battling a separate blaze in Dewey near Mortimer Farms at the intersection of state routes 169 and 69. Deputies have told several people in Trails End, Comanche Trail and Shawnee Lane to evacuate as well.
Credit Yavapai County Sheriff s Office
Evacuations were ordered Sunday afternoon for three towns near Crown King due to a wildfire that had grown to 2,500 acres Sunday south of the Prescott National Forest.
It’s one of four wildfires currently burning around the state.
Arizona Bureau of Land Management officials said evacuation orders were issued shortly after 1 p.m. for Minnehaha, Fort Misery and Horsethief Basin.
They said residents of Crown King should begin preparing in the event of an evacuation order is issued.
The wildfire started Saturday and is burning about 20 miles northeast of Wickenburg and eight miles southwest of Crown King.
A man has been arrested and booked on more than two-dozen charges relating to the discovery of human remains in two remote areas outside of Prescott.
Walter Mitchell was booked on 28 charges relating to the discovery of several body parts in remote areas outside Prescott.
Credit Yavapai County Sheriff s Office
According to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office, Walter Mitchell was found in Scottsdale today. Authorities say evidence collected at the scene connected five severed heads and more than two-dozen limbs to a business Mitchell owned in Seattle that managed cadavers for research and had recently closed.
According to officials, he left Seattle sometime this year with the remains of five people and traveled to the Prescott and Chino Valley areas. The reason for Mitchell’s alleged disposal of the body parts remains unclear and the investigation remains active.
Authorities in central Arizona are working to identify several body parts that were found in remote areas.
In this Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020, photo provided by the Yavapai County Sheriff s Office, authorities investigate the discovery of body parts northwest of Prescott, Ariz. Authorities believe the remains are connected to a medical institution and could have been used for education or research.
Credit Yavapai County Sheriff s Office via AP
The Yavapai County Sheriff s Office says a woodcutter and a hunter found the remains at two separate sites over the weekend. Sheriff s spokesman Dwight D Evelyn says the remains appear to be connected to a medical institution and could have been used for education or research. The medical examiner s office is trying to trace their origins, based on tags that were found among the body parts. Meanwhile, authorities are using drones and police dogs to search the two areas near Prescott, which is north of Phoenix.