COCONINO COUNTY, Ariz. — The National Park Service said the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument near Flagstaff has "burned in its entirety" in the Tunnel Fire, which has grown to more than 20,000 acres and forced 2,000 people to evacuate.
"The fire entered the park late afternoon for 4:30. By about 9 or 10 it had burned essentially through the entire National Monument," said Richard Ullman, Public Information Officer, National Parks Service.
"All Sunset Crater Volcano and Wupatki staff are accounted for and safe," NPS said in a Facebook post. "We were also able to successfully evacuate all culturally important items from the visitor center. For those who worried, the Kabotie painting, corn rock, Qa'na Katsina doll, and other items are safe."
NPS said as of Wednesday morning, the visitor center remained unharmed, but active fires continued to burn nearby.
"We pretty much thought we had lost the visitor center in the housing. Unbelievably, that's not the case," said Ullman. "The fire, although huge, went through so quickly, it’s like a mosaic burn pattern, a lot of trees are singed they’re not scorched they didn't crown out."
Lisa Leap, who is an archeologist who works for the National Park Service, said the fire cleared the ground of the pine duff that can make way for new items to be found both historical and related to the 13 tribes culturally connected to Sunset Crater.
"Mainly shared scatters artifacts such as points, arrowheads, lithics, stuff like that could come up," Leap said.
"There's still active fire, there's still danger. We're not out of the woods yet," said Ullman.
The park is closed, and there is no estimated timeline for reopening, NPS said.
Meanwhile, more than 260 firefighters are working the blaze, and at least 25 structures have been destroyed as of Thursday afternoon.
Arizona Weather
Arizona has seen its fair share of severe weather. Here is a compilation of videos from various storms across the Grand Canyon state.