Perryville Fire Crew Captain Joe Barreras said he and his team have been on the ground battling the Woodbury Fire burning east of Phoenix since day one.
“We were out on the Woodbury Fire from approximately an hour after it started,” he said.
The human-caused fire began burning about 5 miles northwest of Superior on June 8. As of Monday, it had grown to 115,720 acres, making it the sixth-largest in state history. The fire was 48% contained.
Barreras, who’s in his 21st season battling wildfires, leads Arizona’s only all-female fire crew made up of 20 inmates from the Perryville prison. The crew spent 15 days battling the fire.
He said the fire was in the Superstition Mountains when they were first deployed. The terrain in that area is steep, rocky and desolate – making their job difficult.
The grass that grew as a result of record rain during the winter also made it difficult.