More burnouts Tuesday on Santa Rita Mtns. fire

Firefighters continued burnouts on Tuesday, five days after a lightning-sparked fire started crawling through the Santa Rita Mountains near Madera Canyon.

The Melendrez Pass fire burned more than 5,800 acres of Coronado National Forest as of Tuesday evening, but much more was expected to be charred before it’s over, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

In a burnout, crews set fire to a swath of brush to prevent the main blaze from going any farther by depriving it of fuel.

Forest Service spokeswoman Heidi Schewel said Tuesday that most of the trees, largely mesquite and oak, should survive. The blaze was burning “decadent brush” and returning nutrients to the soil, according to the Forest Service.

Also Tuesday, the Pima County Department of Environmental Quality and the American Lung Association of Arizona issued a smoke advisory for the area, warning those sensitive to smoke to “take appropriate precautions if they smell smoke.”

According to the warning, those with respiratory or heart disease and the elderly could experience respiratory symptoms and are urged to remain indoors, especially in the early morning when smoke levels are higher due to temperature inversions.

Crews on Tuesday were doing burnouts along Box Canyon Road, and Schewel said it likely would be the final day of the operation.

After the burnouts, some crews would remain to tend to hot spots, and that could go on until the weekend, she said.

“There are some big fields back in there that could smolder for a while,” she said. She expected other crews to be released starting today.

Residents of Sahuarita and Green Valley woke up Tuesday to trails of smoke in and along the foothills. The blaze put on a light show over the weekend with lines of fire visible on the mountains for miles. No structures have been lost or threatened.

The fire started about 1 p.m. Friday with a lightning strike and crews thought they had it under control early on. But the blaze flared up Saturday with strong winds and didn’t settle down over the weekend. Containment was at 70 percent as of Tuesday.

A large contingent of firefighters battled the blaze which at one point included 13 engines, two light helicopters and four water tenders.