A fast-moving wildfire in rural Arizona nearly tripled in size Wednesday and has forced thousands to flee as the wind-driven blaze is expected to worsen.
“I cannot stress enough how rapidly this fire is moving,” True Brown, a fire management officer with the Coconino National Forest, told reporters late Tuesday. “I cannot stress how important it is to leave the fire area.”
The fire, since named the Tunnel Fire, burned across largely unpopulated hills and valleys approximately 14 miles north of Flagstaff, Arizona, according to a US Forest Service statement.
It has grown from claiming 6,000 acres on Tuesday to 19,712 acres by Wednesday, a mass of scorched land that is larger than the island of Manhattan.
Conditions for the fire are expected to worsen over the next couple days, the US Forest Service warned in their most recent statement, noting that its expected to be windier on Thursday and Friday with gusts reaching up to 50 mph in most of northern Arizona.
At least 2,000 residents have been forced from their homes, Reuters reported, and the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office’s most recent estimate suggests that 25 structures have burned in the Tunnel Fire so far.
