Bighorn Fire


The Bighorn Fire is an active wildfire in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona. It has burned and is 100 percent contained as of July 23, 2020. A lightning strike from a storm the evening of June 5, 2020 caused the fire. Following National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group policy, the fire was named after its place of origin on the northwest flank of Bighorn Mountain along Pusch Ridge.

Events

The fire has threatened hundreds of homes and the Pima County Sheriff's Department has asked residents in the area to evacuate. The first evacuations occurred in the Catalina Foothills neighborhood in Northern Tucson. The following day, residents in the Oro Valley section of the Catalina Foothills were ordered to evacuate. On June 16, Mount Lemmon and Summerhaven were evacuated.
As of July 4th, the fire was 73 percent contained. The fire was at 40% containment once before, but fire crews working on the fire had lost containment and it dipped down to 16% before rising again. Fire crews have struggled to fight the fire due to the heat and dry weather. The majority of the days since the fire begun had over 100 degree temperatures with low humidity, as is typical in June in Tucson.