It has been a long, hot summer for residents in the Verde Communities as a half dozen desert wildfires have scorched more than 40,000 acres of nearby Sonoran Desert since the end of May.
Earlier this summer the 14,000-acre Wildcat Fire prompted a SET warning for possible evacuation for Trilogy at Verde River residents north of Rio Verde Drive.
The latest blaze, the Sand Stone Fire, in the desert foothills east of the Verde River and burning along the Beeline Highway toward Sunflower has scorched more than 24,000 acres and was is still burning with 20% containment. At one-point flames backed their way down a desert draw to within about three miles of the Verdes.
