Oak Ridge Fire

The usage of my word choice has caused some backlash, and I would like to defend myself as the word “casualty” has several different connotations. 

Whether the welcome rains made a difference or not, the fire was 6% contained and had burned 10,623 acres as of Thursday.

What started as a thin column of smoke rising from the high desert on a quiet Saturday afternoon has evolved into a full-scale wildfire that has scorched over 10,623 acres of land on the Navajo Nation, just four miles south of Arizona State Highway 264, west of Window Rock.

As the Oak Ridge Fire spread across the heart of Diné Bikéyah, the response didn’t wait for bureaucracy to catch up. It came instead from community leaders, nonprofits, and former officials who understood that action, fast and direct, was what their people needed.

The Oak Ridge Fire has its first two casualties with the cancelation of the Ahóóhai Days 4th of July Celebration and the Cody Jesus Invitational.