Hancock Canyon Fire continues to burn near Littlefield

SkyCrane helicopter drops water on the Hancock Canyon Fire burning just south of Littlefield, Ariz.,, May 6, 2020 | Photo courtesy of Nathan Hancock, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — A human-caused wildfire that started Wednesday afternoon near Littlefield, Arizona has spread to more than 100 acres while crews continue to fight the blaze that has yet to be contained.

SkyCrane helicopter (shown in the distance) drops water on the Hancock Canyon Fire burning just south of Littlefield, Ariz.,, May 6, 2020 | Photo courtesy of Nathan Hancock, St. George News

The brush fire was reported shortly after 4 p.m. MDT Wednesday just north of Hancock Canyon, a vast expanse of extremely rugged terrain managed by the Bureau of Land Management near the Arizona/Nevada border just south of Littlefield, Beaver Dam/Littlefield Fire Chief Jeff Hunt said.

The fire was spotted by Beaver Dam/Littlefield Fire Battalion Chief Andre Ojeda who called it into emergency dispatch. Minutes later, arriving firefighters began tackling the blaze and were soon joined by wildland crews from the BLM and the U.S. Forest Service.

Additional help was called in to fight the grass- and brush-fed blaze that was spreading throughout the area and had consumed about 10 acres.

Hunt requested aerial support, and the BLM in Arizona also sent fire crews to fight the blaze, which continued to spread as a SkyCrane helicopter responded and began dropping water on the fire that was supplied by a nearby river, which allowed crews to continue containment efforts within a growing area that continued to burn.

Map of Hancock Canyon where 100-acre wildland fire continues to burn just south of Littlefield, Arizona, May 6, 2020 | Photo courtesy of Google Maps, St. George News

By 9 p.m., there were still active flames burning through the foothills. Authorities estimated the fire covered more than 80 acres as suppression efforts continued throughout the night.

By 9:05 a.m. Thursday, the blaze has burned through more than 100 acres and is not yet contained.

“There’s a little smoke now, but we’ll see what happens when the winds kick up later,” Hunt said, adding that crews may have it contained by Friday.

Color Country Interagency Fire Management, which is responsible for coordinating wildland firefighting efforts in the southwestern Utah and northern Arizona area, is coordinating firefighting efforts and has dubbed the blaze the “Hancock Canyon Fire.”

No injuries have been reported and no structures are threatened at this time.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

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