Brush fire along Gila River causes road closures
UPDATE (10 p.m.) According to Elston Grubaugh, Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District general manager, approximately 400 acres of the river bottom has burned.
"We were able to protect those things that were important and the river burns occasionally. It always has, it'll grow back," says Grubaugh.
Grubaugh says the Tacna and Wellton volunteer fire departments have been doing their best to keep it contained.
"And then we have some legacy cottonwood trees that we would really like to protect as well. We were fortunate to be able to protect those," adds Grubaugh.
He says the fire did pick up due to the heavy winds and burned an old barn.
"Hog farm down here at the house and some of the other facilities that are no longer used for producing hogs did burn," explains Grubaugh.
The fire departments were able to protect the house right next it surrounding it with tenders.
One Wellton resident, Linda Clatone, lives in a neighborhood nearby and says she can see the smoke from her house and drove by to see how bad it was.
"We just started enjoying the river down here in our spots you know and I'd sure hate to see it go up in flames. The bullfrogs are having fun you know, it's sad," says Clatone.
Farmers were on standby with tractors at the end of the road just in case the flames jumped to their wheat crops.
"Fortunately, these wheat fields that you see next to us here are still green enough that they were pretty well protected from the fire," says Grubaugh.
No injuries or property damage has been reported.
UPDATE (4 p.m.) - Brush fire is still ongoing. Random hot spots do appear here and there throughout the area.
Fire is not affecting traffic.
UPDATE (3 p.m.) - According to the Wellton Fire Department, they received a call about the fire around 3:45 a.m.
The cause of the brush fire is still unknown.
Location of the fire is on Co 10 1/2 Street and Avenue 25E and 26E.
There’s a house nearby and the Wellton Fire Department is doing their best to keep the fire away from the house and nearby fields.
YUMA COUNTY, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Roads on County 10th Street from Avenue 24E to Avenue 26E will be closed until further notice due to a brush fire along the Gila River.
Yuma County advises the community to stay away from the area.
Closures began around 1 p.m. Thursday.
KYMA will keep this story updated.
