Arizona Tunnel Fire - vacationing soon in the area

First let me start off by saying my heart goes out to any one out there who has been directly impacted by the fires in Arizona (or other states). I hope you are safe and your homes are ok.

We have a vacation scheduled to Arizona and for the majority of our stay we are staying in Flagstaff, and have a VRBO booked. We will be there starting May 22. So needless to say have been watching the news with some trepidation. The news is indicating the fire is 14 miles Northeast of Flagstaff and some news outlets are saying moving away from Flagstaff and more populated areas. For those of you in AZ or who have more knowledge about this can you give more of an update what you are seeing/hearing for Flagstaff? Is the smoke bad in Flagstaff? Does the fire seem to be getting more contained? How much should I worry about this or think about changing our plans which I really do not want to do! Or is it just too early right now to know?

Thank you all for any advice and please stay safe!

I think they’ll have it under control or out by May 22. The fire is on the east side of Flagstaff and the direction of the winds will blow it away from the city and most of the attractions in the area. Right now it looks like Sunset Crater NP is closed, as is part of SR89. They’ll open the road up as soon as they can. That would be the route to the north rim of the Grand Canyon or up into Utah from Flagstaff. Unless your VRBO is in the northeast part of the Flagstaff area or you’re driving in from Utah, I wouldn’t worry too much about this fire right now. You might try contacting your VRBO host and asking what the conditions are at the moment. Today is supposed to be windy but they have made some progress against the fire. Check InciWeb for updates.

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Thank you so much for your helpful and reassuring post! Hoping it’s well contained soon!

We’re hoping it doesn’t do damage to the Amtrak line. Last year’s trip had to change due to a burnt trestle along the Pacific coast, and then the mudslides in CO.

Like @SuntasticMom I mostly feel for those directly impacted. The worst it does for us is have us scrambling for different train lines on a vacation if it were to do lasting damage.

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The usual highway from Flagstaff north is closed down, people from the north are either heading south via one of a couple of workarounds that take twice as long. You are a solid month away from your stay, I cannot imagine the fire won’t be over and done by then. Once you read that it’s all contained/over, you can ask your host if there are any of the attractions that interest you affected so you could adjust plans. Right now it seems like not an issue.

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As we don’t watch the news, this thread is the first I’ve heard about the fires, so no helpful info from this AZ resident. Off to read the link above.

ETA: You might call the VRBO owner and ask about conditions. I would hope the owner would be honest.