A debris fire that ignited on a county island in the East Valley last Wednesday has been put out. The fire was burning through a large pile of organic waste, like palm fronds and tree stumps, on land north of the Loop 202 between Alma School and McKellips.

Colin Williams is with the Rural/Metro Fire Department. He says on Thursday, crews discovered that the top layer of the pile was burning, but there was a lot of unburned fuel underneath the flames.

“Friday, with the use of heavy equipment and also with the assistance of a couple more water trucks, we were able to dig into the pile, actually remove a lot of the unburned material, and extinguish the remaining bit of flames," Williams said.

Williams said the fire may continue to smolder for a couple days, but the smoke that was reducing visibility and making it difficult to breathe has cleared.