In 2022, a fire tore through 40 square miles of the eastern slopes of the San Francisco Peaks in Flagstaff, burning away the trees and grasses that bolster the hills’ resilience against rainwater runoff. Since then, county officials have raced against more rain to control that runoff.

State auditors say they’ve been urging the Fire Marshal’s Office since 1988 to set up a legally required safety inspection program for schools and public buildings. A new review of the Marshal’s parent agency says it still hasn’t happened.

The union representing federal employees is warning that the country could lose up to half its wildland firefighters unless Congress acts ahead of a sunset to a pay raise that dries up in two weeks.

The Show spoke with Mary Lata, the fire ecologist for the Tonto National Forest, about the longer season and more severe wildfires affecting the Sonoran Desert on our Saguaro Land series.

Wildfire seasons are growing longer and more active, bringing smoke with well-known physiological effects. But as tiny particulates kicked up by fires drift on the wind, they might also worsen mental health and even increase suicide rates.

Visitors to the Grand Canyon Skywalk and the North Rim may see smoke later this week from a prescribed burn at Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument.

Fewer than five wildfires are currently burning in the state, but there’s still concern about the potential for new ones to spark.

It’s rained enough in northern Arizona that officials have lifted all fire restrictions in the Coconino and Kaibab national forests. And federal officials are easing some fire preparedness levels across the entire U.S. Southwest.

An investigation into last year’s destructive Tunnel Fire that destroyed dozens of buildings northeast of Flagstaff shows that investigators were able to rule out most causes for the fire.
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