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Fire burning near Williams
Juniper fire now 260 acres

WILLIAMS - The Juniper Fire is approximately 260 acres and continues to spread within the management area that forest officials have defined for the incident. The July 17 lightning-caused fire is 18 miles northeast of Williams and is being managed for resource objectives within a 1,600 acre boundary.

The increase in the fire's size is mostly a result of July 19 burnout operations. Crews ignited areas along Roads 101 and 90 to reduce the potential for rapid fire spread north and eastward. These operations helped crews meet incident objectives to protect wildlife habitat while allowing fire to move across the landscape as an important part of the ecosystem. Approximately 60 personnel are working on the incident.

Observed fire behavior consisted of one to two foot flame lengths and isolated torching. Smoke from the fire was visible from Williams and surrounding areas.

The fire will be managed within a defined area encompassing approximately 1,600 acres. The management area boundary has roads on all four sides - Forest Road (FR) 144 to the west, FR 90 to the north, FR 101 on the east and FR 171 on the south. In addition, the 2009 Wildhorse Complex is just north of the fire. A local Type 4 organization is managing the incident.

"The ideal location of this fire and the fire behavior we are seeing will help us achieve the resource objectives we have identified for this incident," said Incident Commander Dave Pearce.

These objectives include returning fire to a fire-adapted ecosystem, enhancing wildlife habitat, and protecting cultural resources and range improvements.

Throughout the weekend, fire crews continued to respond to fires by hiking into remote locations to work on fires on Government Hill, 11 miles northeast of Williams, and Bill Williams Mountain, just south of town.

Crews reported no problems in controlling the fires. Altogether, eight fires at less than one acre each resulted from the July 16 storm. The fires were single trees burning with minimal creeping and smoldering ground fire.

Most of the activity today is near Sycamore Canyon. The National Weather Service predicts the current trend of isolated showers and thunderstorms will remain through the middle of next week.

For additional information, please visit the Inciweb at http://www.inciweb.org/incident/2026/.


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