In the early morning hours of March 12, a fire was reported to the Winslow Fire Department at High Desert Wood Products, located at 2001 Old Hwy 66. According to Police Crime Scene Investigator Doug Walton, “The call came in at 2:04 a.m. and crews were on scene at 2:11. When they arrived they found one wood pile fully engulfed.” The fire took half the facility’s inventory but did not damage any buildings on the property and no one was injured in the blaze. Walton added, “Personnel were on site until Thursday morning because while it was contained, it was still very hot.”
Two Arizona Public Service poles were damaged in the fire and in order to replace them APS shut off power to a large section of Winslow for approximately an hour. The effort to put out the blaze was joined by Joseph City, Holbrook and Blue Ridge fire departments, as well as crews from Winslow Public Works, Arizona Department of Transportation and Tri-R Towing. Walton said, “This is still an ongoing investigation, we do have some possible leads but right now we are still looking in to it.”
The following week two structure fires were reported and handled by Winslow Fire Department. An abandoned house burned at 1416 W. Second St. and is also under investigation and a shed caught fire on Front Street. Walton said the cause there is undetermined.
Winslow has experienced a higher than normal number of structure fires this year to date. According to Fire Chief James Hernandez, 2018 has already seen eight fires, whereas last year at this time there were only two. Hernandez said, “While we do have a couple that are under investigation, the majority of our calls are fires that could have been prevented.”
Prevention comes in many forms according Hernandez. “Maintenance is number one,” he said. “Home and business owners should look at their wiring and make sure they don’t have anything blinking out.”
He mentioned that one of the eight fires this year was caused by a space heater that malfunctioned. “Make sure your heaters and furnaces are in good working order.” Hernandez also stressed the importance of cleaning up yard debris, “Whether it’s your dry grass or garden bed that is dry, clean that up. With the winds we have this time of year, those can ignite and a fire could spread quickly.” The drought conditions throughout the region have the potential to add to the fire danger as well. “With the lack of moisture we have had the logs at the wood plant fire burned faster and hotter than they would have otherwise,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez concluded, “All fires start small so having an extinguisher in your house is a good idea. However, you also need to make sure the extinguisher is in good working order and that you know how to use it.”
Despite the higher number of fires than normal, no firefighters or occupants have been injured in any of the eight fires this year.
Citizens can contact their local fire department for tips on how to maintain and use a fire extinguisher and for other tips on how you can prevent fires in and around homes and businesses.
