A wildfire that burned within the city limits of Flagstaff on Friday was believed to be started by juveniles playing with fireworks.

The “Izabel Fire” that spread five and a half acres near the Sunnyside neighborhood in eastern Flagstaff has been contained, said Mark Brehl, coordinator of Community Fire Wise for the Flagstaff Fire Department.

Homes were about 75 to 100 yards east of the fire, Brehl said. But no homes were lost, and no one was injured in the blaze. 

Brehl said he believed that the juveniles had admitted to lighting the fireworks.

The Flagstaff Fire Department had thinned the area where the fire broke out last year. Thinning is a process when smaller, tightly packed trees are cut down because they are more susceptible to wildfires.

“If that area had not been thinned, (the fire) would have been much bigger, and potentially more dangerous,” Brehl said.

A separate fire burned in northwest Flagstaff on Friday near the Little Wing Mountain.

Fire officials on the scene had hoped to contain the 25-acre fire by Friday evening, according to a release by the Coconino National Forest.

azcentral.com