Brushfire triggers Madera evacuation

A brush fire that broke out about a mile west of the entrance to Madera Canyon on Friday triggered a road closure and evacuation of residents and brought in several fire departments, including Forest Service aircraft, fire officials said.

The high plume of smoke was visible from miles away on Interstate 19 and could be seen from most of Green Valley.

Heidi Schewel, fire information officer of the Forest Service, said the fire covered about 10 acres, and that an air tanker and air attack had been ordered and staff from the Nogales Ranger District had been dispatched. Schewel said the Pima County Sheriff's Department was heading a command post nearby.

Green Valley Fire District Captain Melissa Smith said a mild breeze appeared to pushing the fire away from the developed area of the canyon, but the road was being closed as a precaution.

Smith said units of the Green Valley, Tubac, Rural/Metro and Forest Service fire departments had been dispatched or were on the scene.

A spokesman for the Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins said at 12:55 p.m. Friday the Forest Service asked the staff to evacuate the mountaintop observatory.

Dan Brocious of the observatory said about a dozen staffers plus another 20 or so people on a bus tour were leaving the mountain, but the base camp in the foothills was not being evacuated.

Madera Canyon is immediately north of the observatory, and there was concern that the flames burning upward could wreck or damage the telescopes worth millions of dollars.

Developer Michael Kettenbach, who owns property near the fire, saw the smoke and went up, took pictures and aided group of developmentally disabled adults who were hiking in the canyon.

Kettenbach said the wind had shifted and by 1 p.m. the fire was headed up the canyon.

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