Wildcat Fire in Tonto National Forest grows to 14K acres as more resources fight blaze

Fire officials were calling in more resources to fight a fast-growing wildfire in the northeast Valley Monday morning after it nearly tripled in size within 24 hours.

The Wildcat Fire, which is burning in the Cave Creek Ranger District located north of Dynamite Boulevard and 136th Street near Vista Verde, was reported Saturday morning before 9:30 a.m. Its cause is still unknown.

Since then, the fire has consumed more than 14,000 acres of land. It was 0% contained as of Monday morning. About 300 people are fighting the blaze, with officials calling in increasingly more federal, state, county and local resources. That included aviation resources and medical teams, Tonto National Forest spokesperson Mike Reichling said.

"It's a bit of everything," Reichling said.

Efforts to tame the flames have been hampered by hot, dry and windy conditions, according to InciWeb. Those conditions were expected to continue Monday, with the National Weather Service forecasting a "breezy" day. Southwest afternoon winds were scheduled to move around 15 to 20 mph, but could gust as high as 40 mph, the agency forecast.

Fire officials expected the wildfire to continue moving southeast on Monday through rugged terrain dominated by grass and brush, per InciWeb. They're hoping personnel can find opportunities to construct firelines and plan out ways to protect infrastructure and natural resources in the area.

"We're kind of leveling out right now, seeing what this is going to do, especially since there's this wind event today," Reichling said. "We'll see what happens with that. There's a lot more that could be ordered, but we're not going to order them yet because we've got a lot coming in."

He added: "We've got all the assets we need, we just hope the weather cooperates. That's the one thing we can't control."

Reichling said no "major communities" were yet under threat from the fire. Firefighters were "doing a good job" of keeping the fire from moving toward the communities of Cave Creek, Carefree and north Scottsdale, he said.

"There are a couple ranches in the area, but they've done some clearing around them all," he said. "There's no large, populated communities that are impacted at this point."

However, powerlines belonging to the Salt River Project were threatened, Reichling said. SRP officials said Monday afternoon that they were "monitoring" the fire and were not experiencing any outages as a result of the flames.

"In the event of an unplanned outage, SRP will visually inspect its overhead lines prior to restoring power to ensure it is safe to do so," said spokesperson Jennifer Schuricht. "This additional inspection means customers may experience a longer outage. SRP has resources available and is prepared to support restoration efforts, if needed."

Authorities urged the public to sign up for the Maricopa County Emergency Notification System to receive prompt alerts about emergency evacuations.

Officials also cautioned the public should avoid traveling through the area of the wildfire or flying drones near it to avoid interfering with aircraft fighting the blaze.

“Remember, drones and firefighting aircraft are a dangerous mix and could lead to accidents or slow down wildfire suppression operations,” the Tonto National Forest wrote on Facebook. “If you fly, we can’t.”

Fire closes roads, part of Tonto National Forest

Already, the fire has shut down a portion of the Tonto National Forest and forced road closures in the area.

The U.S. Forest Service banned individuals from entering public lands near Bartlett Lake on Saturday night. The area is bounded by Cave Creek Road to the west and Bartlett Lake to the east, with Humboldt Mountain at the northernmost edge and the southernmost edge approaching the Verde River, according to a map from the U.S. Forest Service.

They expanded the closure on Monday morning, adding some land near Bartlett Lake's shores and along the Verde River, according to an updated map.

Exceptions exist for individuals with certain Forest Service permits and for federal, state and local officials involved in firefighting or an organized rescue, according to a statement from the agency.

Visitors were escorted from Bartlett Lake due to the wildfire Saturday morning, according to officials with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Brandyn Scovill came to Bartlett Lake on Saturday with Matty Deskins and his son Casey for a day of jet skiing.

They said they saw smoke from afar early in the day but didn’t think much of it. Before 3 p.m., the trio drove out of the area to get lunch discovering the fire had moved in around the main road. They said they could feel the heat from the flames on the windows as they passed by charred trees and shrubs.

“I was nervous to see how people were going to react,” Deskins told The Arizona Republic. The group was among dozens of vehicles leaving the lake.

He said the stream of cars ran down Bartlett Dam Road, at one point coming to a dead stop. Once traffic continued, the three eventually made their way back home to Chandler. They returned on Sunday to retrieve a car and jet skis left behind.

Republic reporters Taylor Seely and Helen Rummel contributed to this article.

Sasha Hupka covers county government and regional issues for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Wildcat Fire grows to 14,000 acres amid dry, windy conditions