As Woodbury Fire continues to burn, ranchers, businesses impacted

NEAR SUPERIOR, Ariz. (FOX 10) -- As the Woodbury Fire continues to burn just fives miles northwest of the town of Superior, ranchers and businesses are concerned.

"There's only one way in and one way out to this neighborhood," said Chuck Hemmerlin, who lives in an unincorporated part of Pinal County, near Apache Junction. The neighborhood is also close to where the Woodbury Fire is burning, in the wilderness of the Superstition Mountains.

Hemmerlin and his neighbors are worried about the worst case scenario

"With this fire burning here in the back -- it might be five miles back there, it's burning in that ridge. This is all dried tinder. We'll look out for each other. We have animals, families up here, we just need another access," said Hemmerlin.

A number of neighbors have animals that would be difficult to move during an evacuation. Pinal County Supervisor Todd House said he has been working on the issue since other roads closed.

"They're asking for when are we going to evacuate, well there's no reason to evacuate yet, but there could be

People in the area don't want to wait until it's too late to find out if the road can accommodate everyone in an emergency," said House. "It's a bad situation, and we don't want a critical event causing a problem to bring it to national attention."

Meanwhile, the road closures and uncertainty are taking a toll on some businesses in the area.

"It's already impacting it," said Gilbert Jimenez with Miner's Ice Cream Parlor. "I don't know if it will impact us all summer, I am hoping they can get that under control."