Aspen Fire
2003 wildfire in Pima County, Arizona, USA
title: "Aspen Fire" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["santa-catalina-mountains", "history-of-pima-county,-arizona", "wildfires-in-arizona", "2003-in-arizona", "2003-wildfires-in-the-united-states", "wildfires-in-pima-county,-arizona"] description: "2003 wildfire in Pima County, Arizona, USA" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspen_Fire" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary 2003 wildfire in Pima County, Arizona, USA ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox wildfire"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| title | Aspen Fire |
| image | [[File:MtLemmon Summerhaven Recovery From Aspen Fire.jpg |
| caption | Mt.Lemmon Summerhaven Recovery From Aspen Fire |
| date | – |
| location | Summerhaven, Mount Lemmon, Arizona |
| coordinates | |
| pushpin_map | USA Arizona |
| area | 84750 acre |
| buildings | 340 |
| :: |
| title =Aspen Fire | image =[[File:MtLemmon Summerhaven Recovery From Aspen Fire.jpg|MtLemmon Summerhaven Recovery From Aspen Fire|270px]] | caption =Mt.Lemmon Summerhaven Recovery From Aspen Fire | cost = | injuries = | fatalities = | reference = | date = – | location =Summerhaven, Mount Lemmon, Arizona | coordinates = | pushpin_map = USA Arizona | pushpin_map_caption = | area = 84750 acre | buildings =340 | cause = | landuse = | perps = | motive =
The Aspen Fire burned from June 17, 2003, for about a month on Mount Lemmon, part of the Santa Catalina Mountains located in the Coronado National Forest north of Tucson, Arizona, and in the surrounding area. It burned 84750 acre (132.4 sq mi) of land, and destroyed 340 homes and businesses of the town of Summerhaven.
Damages to electric lines, phone lines, water facilities, streets and sewers totaled $4.1 million. Firefighting cost was about $17 million, and the Forest Service is spending $2.7 million to prevent soil loss.
In 2002, the year before the fire started, Congress had been requested to allocate about $2 million to cover the implementation of fire prevention measures in the Coronado National Forest. However, that allocation was reduced to about $150,000 in the Congressional budget process.
There were originally suspicions that the fire was caused by a lightning strike, but it was eventually determined to be human-caused.
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Aspen_and_Helen_2_Fires,_Tucson,_Arizona.gif" caption="The Aspen Fire, south of center, had the largest smoke plume of all the fires."] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/AspenFire2003.jpg" caption="The Aspen Fire in the Santa Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona."] ::
References
- Barnes, Mary Ellen. Forged by Fire: The Devastation and Renewal of a Mountain Community. [Tucson, AZ]: Vireo House, 2005.
References
- (18 June 2007). "Aspen Fire Four Years Later".
- (June 26, 2003). "Aspen Fire, Arizona".
- (June 18, 2023). "Aspen Fire started 20 years ago on June 17".
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