Navajo Nation

The Wood Springs 2 Fire burns in rough terrain. Navajo President Jonathan Nez says it took 30 minutes for firefighters to travel two miles.

A lightning-caused wildfire has burned almost 5,816 acres on the Navajo Nation. The Sawmill and Fluted Rock communities have been told to be ready to evacuate. 

Strong winds have died down. That has helped fire crews battling the so-called Wood Springs 2 Fire burning in northeastern Arizona. 

Incident Command spokesman Ralph Lucas told a Navajo Facebook Live Town Hall that the firefighters’ camp will be closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.   

“We’re going to be pretty shut down to the public,” Lucas said. “We just want folks to understand that that's not to be rude in any way, it's just a way of protecting the folks of the Navajo Nation and ourselves so that we can all go back to our families once we get this fire wrapped up.”

Emergency personnel who were working to stop the spread of the coronavirus have shifted to help with the fire. 

Navajo Route 7 and N-26 are closed to allow firefighters to do their job.