Residents, tourists react to increasing wildfires in Arizona

COCONINO COUNTY, Ariz. - In Coconino County, tourists passing through will notice hazy skies as a result of the smoke from the lightning-caused Rafael Fire.

A few evacuation orders have been issued by officials. However, most communities are still in "set" mode, meaning to be prepared to evacuate.

Thomas Garcia is on a road trip exploring Arizona and says, "Hearing there's a lot of fire around here. Fires are pretty high getting kind of dangerous. We didn't know we need to evacuate."

Katie Parks owns Bandits Restaurant and the Dirty Cowboy Saloon in Strawberry. Her community is affected by the Backbone Fire, which is also caused by lightning.

Last Friday, Parks evacuated her family and horses from their home after "go" orders were activated by authorities. She's back now feeding animals left behind with the permission of residents.

Map: Every wildfire burning in Arizona

"We go out late at night when all the fire crews are already off the roads and we go feed the animals that were left behind," she said.

Michael Conner has been watching the Wyrick Fire grow from his vantage point. The fire started a mile away from Heber and he says says he's ready at all times for wildfires.

"It's spreading pretty quickly. Big smoke plumes started hearing the DC-10s flying over the house and doing the airdrops," he said.

Parks isn't wasting her food inventory. She's making meals for hungry firefighters, but she's still ready to evacuate if she needs to.

"I've lived in Strawberry for 28 years and we kind of expect the worse every single summer. It stinks that you live like that but at the same time it's kind of the price you pay for living in the mountains, you know that it's always a possibility," she said.

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