“I’m glad it’s almost over,” Sonoita-Elgin Fire District Chief Joseph DeWolf said about this year’s fire season. The fire departments in both Sonoita and Patagonia have responded to an unusually high number of fires in the past few months.
As of July 20, 2017 there had been only three days out of the last 50 when no fires were called in to the station, according to SEFD administrative assistant Katie Goodwin.
In Patagonia, firefighters have responded to approximately nine fires in their area and
were involved in several of the fires in Sonoita.
“It was kind of an average season for this area,” Patagonia Volunteer Fire and Rescue Chief Ike Isakson said, “but we were active fighting Sonoita fires.”
Approximately 35,176 acres burned in the SEFD district this season. SEFD was involved with fighting a total of 101,376 acres of fire, both in and out of district.
Although five houses and several outbuildings were lost in the Encino Fire in Sonoita on June 20, this number could have been much higher.
“What a great job the community does here to create defensible space around their homes,” DeWolf said as he commended area residents. “What an awesome community we have here. The most phenomenal thing, I think, is how well our community came together and worked together during these fires.”