Wildfires can pop up out of nowhere and destroy thousands of acres at a time, and people tend to underestimate how hard it is to contain such a high volume fire. According to KTAR, the Hazen fire near Buckeye grew from 1,138 acres to 1,191 acres on Wednesday, May 6. The fire is sitting at 45% containment, and people can expect that number to go up as the Arizona Fire Department continues working on it.

The Hazen fire remains to be under investigation as authorities are trying to look for a starting factor, something that could help dictate what started the fire. While nobody knows what started the fire, people do know why it put up a hard fight. 12 News says that the thick vegetation on the ground that is present in the area of the fire is called the salt cedar . Salt cedar is extremely flammable and there is an abundance of the plant in  the Hazen area.

The severity of the fire is immense, but thankfully no casualties have occurred. However, KJZZ says there has been an uptick of doctor visits due to respiratory issues inside the valley likely as a result of the smoke from the Hazen fire. 

In the future, firefighters will know how to fend off salt cedar and could be more alert when reflecting back on this fire. Hopefully they are able to tame it soon.