Authorities break up illegal 5,000-person party in Tonto National Forest 12news.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 12news.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Associated Press
Tonto National Forest officials are trying to discourage the annual January informal gathering known as the Christmas Tree Burn that has attracted thousands of people in the past.
Forest officials said Wednesday that Arizona s COVID-19 restrictions prohibit large gatherings and that areas of the forest s Mesa Ranger District may be closed temporarily for recreation use to ensure that the gathering doesn t occur.
According to forest officials, thousands of people in the past have gathered on the forest to burn Christmas trees, resulting in numerous accidents, injuries and criminal behavior.
The gathering last year of some 8,000 people in the Lower Sycamore area northwest of Roosevelt Lake left large amounts of trash, abandoned campfires and other damage throughout the area, officials said in a statement.