VIDEO: Winds quickly fanned the flames of the brush fire that sparked on May 30, and it burned down eight homes in Cave Creek before getting under control. When Raoult Bertrand and Collette Taffe evacuated their Cave Creek home on Saturday, May 30th, they could see the flames of the Ocotillo Fire approaching, and they weren’t sure they’d have a house to return to when the fire was out.
“I was hyperventilating as well,” Taffe remembered Wednesday. “I don’t know if you’ve ever had that experience when you feel like you’re running for your life.” The Ocotillo Fire burned 980 acres northwest of Cave Creek and required 177 fires to contain it. The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management has determined it was human-caused, but the exact cause is still under investigation. It is 100% contained.