Mistake Peak Fire update: 5,220 acres now 75 percent contained

Mistake Peak Fire at 75% containment, Transition from Type 2 Incident Management Team back to Tonto National Forest

(12 Miles East of Tonto Basin)

ROOSEVELT, Ariz. – The management of the 5,220-acre Mistake Peak Fire will transition from the Northern Arizona Type II Incident Management Team to the Tonto National Forest on August 20, 2012. The fire size has been adjusted to reflect current data generated from a mapping flight today.      

Personnel will continue to work towards full containment of the fire, which is now at 75 percent containment. Many resources continue to be made available for reassignment to other fires as workload decreases.

Incident Commander Matt Reidy said, “Our fire crews worked very hard and safely under challenging conditions to get to where we are today.”

Rehabilitation of fire areas that were impacted by suppression activities is ongoing. These actions include repairing roads, fixing fences, removing fire weakened trees, and diverting stream flows to prevent erosion. 

Closures:

• A temporary closure to ensure firefighter and public safety is in place. The closure begins at the intersection of Forest Road (FR) 71 and FR 609, heading north, northeast along FR 609 until the junction with FR 416, then east on FR 416 to FR 86, then east on FR 486 to State Route (SR) 288, along the western edge of SR 288 to FR 609, then west along FR 609 to FR 486,  south and west along FR 486 to FR 236, south and west along FR 236 to the junction with FR 236A, southwest along FR 236A until FR 71, west along FR 71 to FR 609. 
• Cholla Campground (including the entrance road from State highway 188)

Note: This will be the last fire update from the Northern Arizona Incident Management Team.

Mistake Peak Fire information is posted at http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3141. For more information regarding forest recreation sites contact the Tonto National Forest at 602-225-5200, or check online at www.fs.usda.gov/tonto.  For information on the current bear hunt in unit 23 south, please contact Arizona Game & Fish Department at www.azgfd.gov or 602-942-3000.