ORACLE, Ariz. — As the Bighorn Fire continues to grow two weeks later the small communities of Oracle and San Manuel are seeing plumes of smoke and flames very close to their homes.
On Friday night fire crews conducted burnouts to stop the fire from approaching those communities. Nonetheless, those in the community have seen plumes of smoke very close.
“They could see the fire jump the ridge line and just keep rolling in. Then there were people just non-stop coming to the parking lot and taking pictures of this huge plume that was coming in,” explained Sarah Conway, owner of Titan Power Sports and Rentals.
Conway also houses tenants in Oracle. Her business is in the 'SET' zone.
“We evacuated our building on Friday. We do maintenance for a lot of people around here and we took every machine out of the building," explained Conway.
Conway was worried when she heard it was time to get ready in the case of an evacuation.
“I freaked out. I called our tenants they live up here, and I was like you guys have a plan, I'm just so worried about everybody,” said Conway.
Titan Power Sports and Rentals is still open but they are ready, with their vans loaded and their equipment now at their house in Oro Valley.
She is grateful for the firefighters protecting her community.
“I think that everyone's doing an amazing job by protecting the communities around us, including Catalina," she said. "I'm not worried anymore. I feel that that that set status will be removed soon but I'm not the professional. I just don't have a bad feeling."
