A lightning strike from a dry monsoon storm ignited a wildfire in McDowell Mountain Park about 8 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 20. Flames against the dark sky on Thursday evening created some alarm among Fountain Hills residents.

The area of the blaze was somewhat inaccessible for fire apparatus and it was Friday morning that Arizona State Forestry began an aerial assault of the flames. On Sunday, Aug. 22, Arizona State Forestry reported the fire had burned through 615 acres and was declared extinguished.

The Town of Fountain Hills used its Code Red alert system to send a message to residents just before noon on Friday.

“The weather cooperated during the night and conditions look good for Friday so far. The fire is about 1.5 miles from the north Town border,” the alert stated. “State Fire has multiple jurisdictions providing ground support as well as air support. Work continues to extinguish the fire on the perimeter.”

In a statement released Sunday, town officials announced they had been told the fire was out.

“The Town of Fountain Hills appreciates the concerns of residents about the town not notifying them sooner about the fire,” the statement said. “Fire Department management and town management had planned on notifying residents with the Code Red emergency alert system if the fire situation escalated and posed an imminent threat to nearby neighborhoods.

“In light of the concerns raised by residents, the Fire Department and town management are committed to being more proactive in the future by notifying residents considerably earlier about such situations.”

A TV news helicopter captured on video a lone desert jogger attempting to scratch a fire line with his feet and kick dirt on flames early Friday morning. He was identified as Trevor Murphy, who was running 10 to 20 miles per day into the park in training for an upcoming ultra-marathon race. Murphy told the TV news that he ended up with the soles of his shoes melted and some singed hair for his effort.

McDowell Mountain Regional Park, the Fountain Hills and Scottsdale Sonoran Preserve trails were closed due to the fire. All access was reopened by Sunday afternoon.