In the last month, Arizona became a new hot spot for COVID-19 while facing the Bighorn Fire in the Santa Catalina mountains caused by a lightning strike.
Mount Lemmon, the highest point of the Santa Catalina mountains, was considered as an escape for people who live in Tucson before the fire. People went there to relax and get out of the intensely hot Tucson weather, especially during summertime, according to Laura Mance, president of Long Realty Company.
“Mount Lemmon is Tucson’s playground. Millions of people escape to the mountain every year to picnic under the pines, sleep under the star, hike or fish in Rose Canyon Lake," Mance said. "In a short 29-mile drive people move through 4 climate zones to a special place where the temperatures are usually 30 degrees cooler than they are in Tucson… Mount Lemmon is our special desert island."