Simmons Fire 5/29/2024
Kearny, AZ (5/30/2024) – Crews continue their progress toward full suppression on the Simmons Fire burning northwest of Kearny in Pinal County. Today’s priority for crews is to work around the Gila River perimeter where the fire is most active, primarily focused along the east and southeast sides. Fire objectives include, protection to the town of Kearny, minimizing fire growth to natural resources, and providing mitigation to infrastructure including powerlines and the railroad. Structure protection groups continue to concentrate their efforts to nearby homes. This morning an aerial mapping mission was conducted and it verified the fire at 315 acres. The decrease in acreage is due to more accurate mapping. There is no containment at this time.
For the second night, cooler overnight temperatures coupled with increased relative humidity levels allowed the fire to lay down throughout the night. As temperatures warm up today, there is a moderate potential for fire flare ups resulting in smoky conditions. The weather forecast for the fire today includes dry conditions with temperatures several degrees above average with wind out of the southeast at 5 to 6 mph.
The Nevada Type 3 Incident Management Team 3 took command of the Simmons Fire Wednesday afternoon. More than 170 personnel are engaged with full suppression efforts, including a hotshot crew, Type 2 hand crews, engines, water tenders and a dozer. Aircraft remains available, if needed.
Yesterday, fire overhead conducted a damage assessment and reported five structures damaged and four structures destroyed. For public and firefighter safety, the power remains off to the area north of Kearny. Per the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, residents of the Riverside neighborhood remain on GO – Evacuate status. Residents to the south of the Riverside neighborhood and down to Kearny city limits remain in SET- Be Alert status. Approximately 50 homes are within the SET and GO status. Residents are encouraged to monitor PCSO’s Twitter/X page for updates: https://x.com/PinalCSO. Evacuation status updates will also be sent out through the Pinal Emergency Notification System. To sign up for the alerts visit: https://www.pinal.gov/1335/PENS—Pinal-Emergency-Notification-Syst. State Route 177 is open. For all road updates and traffic information call 511 or visit: https://x.com/ArizonaDOT.
The Simmons Fire started Tuesday, May 28, around 5:20 p.m., approximately 4.5 miles northwest of Kearny. Tuesday’s winds along with hot and dry conditions played a factor in fast fire growth and extreme fire behavior making it difficult and unsafe for crews to engage in some areas of the fire.
Simmons Fire information can be found at: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/aza4s-simmons-fire.