150 people evacuated as crews battle wildfire in south Arkansas

About 150 people in Union County have been evacuated as crews worked to contain a wildfire that’s grown to 2,000 acres, Arkansas authorities said Friday morning.

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture said in a post on X that the fire at Pine Tree Road has been burning since Thursday night.

“Ten bulldozers are currently working the fire, and we are preparing replacement crews from other parts of the state,” the department’s post said. “A detection flight over southeast Arkansas is planned this morning. Air tankers are scheduled to begin aerial operations immediately.”

Shelters have been opened in El Dorado at the Municipal Auditorium and Immanuel Baptist Church, according to the Union County Sheriff’s Office.

Union County Judge Mike Loftin said by mid-morning Friday aircraft had dropped water on the fire about five or six times. Loftin said there were no reports of any injuries or homes lost from the fire.

Late Friday afternoon, Loftin posted on Facebook that the fire was about 50% contained and that crews planned to work and monitor it throughout the night.

“The wind is picking up this afternoon so this is could be another long night for the guys with Arkansas Forestry and all our local first responders. Please keep us all in your prayers,” Loftin wrote.

Arkansas launches online wildfire tracker as drought continues

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday declared a state of emergency because of the wildfire and directed $250,000 to be used from the Governor’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund for the response.

Sanders also ordered the Arkansas National Guard to deploy two Black Hawk helicopters with “Bambi buckets” that are used to drop water onto wildfires to assist in responding to the blaze. Six pilots and six crew chiefs are supporting the mission, and the initial request for support is for two days.

A months-long drought has left a third of Arkansas at high risk of wildfires and all but a handful of counties are under burn bans. 

As of Friday, there have been 1,120 wildfires in Arkansas so far this year affecting more than 29,000 acres, according to an online tracker launched by the state earlier this week. 

The agriculture department has warned that fire risk is expected to go up across the state in the coming weeks. 

“It’s probably been a month since we had a measurable rain in this area,” El Dorado Mayor Paul Choate said. “The woods were primed for a fire.”