Multiple law enforcement agencies collaborate to control brush fire

Firefighters, along with multiple local law enforcement agencies, collaborated together to control a brush fire that was reported in the east Wetlands area Thursday afternoon.

The Yuma Fire Department said personnel arrived on scene just before 4:30 p.m. to find heavy smoke rising from the brush about a half mile southeast of the Territorial Prison. The fire was burning in an area of grass and piles of brush. Over the next two to three hours, firefighters used shovels and other hand tools to contain the fire to about three acres.

YFD added that Prison Hill Road was soon closed due to traffic causing a delay for emergency vehicles and remained closed for two hours.

Quechan Police and Yuma Police Departments assisted with traffic control along with with the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office. Yuma Crossing Heritage Area personnel also provided assistance by opening irrigation valves that would over a period of hours soaked the general area of the fire.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFW), were also on scene to aid in containing the fire.

BLM and USFW stayed on scene to monitor any hotspots.

The cause of the fire is not known and this area was the scene of a previous fire within the last year, the fire department said.

ORIGINAL STORY

UPDATE (5:45 P.M.)

Yuma police have confirmed that the brush fire was put out around 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Traffic is currently limited near the Yuma Territorial Prison.

Yuma Fire Department reported that minimal smoke is now showing.

Personnel with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Bureau of Land Management are also at the scene.

UPDATE (5:30 P.M.)

YFD tweeted that additional fire personnel is heading to the scene of the brush fire that was reported Thursday. The burning is located in the grassy area southeast of Prison Hill.

Yuma firefighters are working to keep the fire from spreading at this time. Access to Prison Hill is closed to avoid traffic and keep the area free to emergency vehicles, the fire department said.

ORIGINAL STORY

The Yuma Fire Department is responding to a brush fire in the East Wetlands, east and south of Prison Hill Thursday afternoon.

Firefighters are currently evaluating the situation and reported no structures are being endangered.

The Yuma Police Department and Yuma County Sheriff’s Office is also on scene.

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The fire department is asking the community to stay away from the area to reduce traffic for emergency vehicles.

{“url”:”https://twitter.com/YumaFireDept/status/1101273029135392769″,”author_name”:”Yuma Fire Department”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/YumaFireDept”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;We have people in vehicles trying to come up to prison hill to take a look. Please don’t. Although Fire is not endangering, the traffic congestion can hamper response. Stay clear of area please!&#lt;/p&#gt;– Yuma Fire Department (@YumaFireDept) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/YumaFireDept/status/1101273029135392769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;March 1, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}

Stay with us as we gather more information.

{“url”:”https://twitter.com/YumaFireDept/status/1101267434420334593″,”author_name”:”Yuma Fire Department”,”author_url”:”https://twitter.com/YumaFireDept”,”html”:”&#lt;blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”&#gt;&#lt;p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”&#gt;YFD personnel arriving on scene of a brush fire in the East Wetlands, East and South of Prison Hill. The situation is being evaluated and action plan developed. No structures endangered. &#lt;a href=”https://t.co/ELhWW1kcPm”&#gt;pic.twitter.com/ELhWW1kcPm&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/p&#gt;– Yuma Fire Department (@YumaFireDept) &#lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/YumaFireDept/status/1101267434420334593?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”&#gt;February 28, 2019&#lt;/a&#gt;&#lt;/blockquote&#gt;n&#lt;script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″&#gt;&#lt;/script&#gt;n”,”width”:550,”height”:null,”type”:”rich”,”cache_age”:”3153600000″,”provider_name”:”Twitter”,”provider_url”:”https://twitter.com”,”version”:”1.0″}