The Cody Fire rages near Oracle. Photo by Bob Alberti (albatross.org)
The community of Oracle has always been a community prepared for fire and residents in the area know to be prepared. Oracle Fire Department is one of the most recognized departments in the state known for practicing and maintaining Firewise protocols.
CERT members deliver ice to the Oracle Fire Station. Photo by Rachel Opinsky
On Tuesday, the community was put on alert with the start of the Cedar Fire which started in a secluded area and burned 10 acres. That fire put residents of Oracle on SET status, to be ready to go had the fire not been contained and brought under control. While the community breathed a sigh of relief, on Wednesday afternoon, a much larger blaze began – named the Cody Fire.
The fire quickly burned hot and fast toward the community of Oracle, calling for the Pinal County Office of Emergency Management to order evacuations for several zones of the Oracle community and put all of San Manuel and the rest of the zones in Oracle on SET status. Many of the evacuation zones remained in GO status through Saturday. Set status remained in effect for the community of San Manuel and the other zones in Oracle on Saturday afternoon.
A plane drops a load of fire retardant at the edge of the Cody Fire. Photo by Bob Alberti (albatross.org)
Areas of the Coronado National Forest were closed to the public including the Arizona National Scenic Trail. Segments 12 and 13 of the Arizona Trail were closed, which includes the Red Ridge Trailhead on Mt. Lemmon and the Tiger Mine Trailhead. These closures are expected to remain in place until the fire is fully extinguished.
New to fire management this year is not designating fires to be a Type One or Type Two fire, which prior determined the resources devoted to major fires. Now officials use the term “Complex Incident,” which allows for additional crews and resources for fire management to be increased or decreased easily based on the needs of each incident. Team 4 from the Southwest Area Incident Management Team took over the Cody Fire Management on Friday, May 23.
“We thank the local Type 3 organizations for their efforts on this fire,” stated the incident overview from Team 4 on their InciWeb page.
Rachel Opinsky, Jim McNulty and Michael Opinsky receiving baby wipes from a Walmart representative.
Team 4 began providing online and in person briefings for those affected by the Cody Fire on Saturday with a community meeting scheduled for Sunday, May 25. During the briefings on Saturday, it was explained that fire lines were holding in the various zones of the fire, which were put in place to protect the communities of Oracle and San Manuel. The fires were burning through some timber, grasslands and brush. High winds and hot temperatures helped the fire to grow and spread in the early days.
PCSO Public Information Officer Sam Salzwedel confirmed Saturday that structures have been lost. Five homes were destroyed; one damaged; and eight other structures were burned, Salzwedel said.
Thanks to the hard work of firefighters on the Cody Fire, containment increased significantly on Saturday from five percent to 47 percent and on Sunday it was announced that the fire was at 83 percent containment. They hope to be at full containment on Monday. (This article was written Sunday, May 25, 2025.) The Cody Fire consumed 1,225 acres; 537 fire personnel were assigned to the fire with those crews coming from as close by as Winkelman and many from other southwestern states.
According to fire officials, the Cody Fire was made worse due to extreme drought conditions, low relative humidity and warm temperature and the extreme fire behavior was made worse with mixed fuels and high winds.
Fixed wing and helicopters helped greatly with water and retardant early on to keep it from spreading.
Crews are beginning the process to get supplies and equipment in needed to restore power to the affected areas.
There is still a great deal of fuel in the state overall including the areas around the Tri-Community, fire officials said. Amazing response from the local fire department and first responders initially helped from this fire being much worse. Tactics were well utilized, the officials said.
Local fire districts hope to focus on fuel reduction in the communities in the area. Firewise ideas and techniques will help with in this endeavor.
Firefighters are still working in and around the Oracle community to ensure safety and health of the residents and first responders.
Evacuations were lifted for most of the affected areas and those zones and the town of San Manuel on SET status were moved back to READY.
Copper Area News will continue to share up to date information on our Facebook pages as information is released. You can also follow the InciWeb page for the Cody Fire: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r03/coronado/alerts/cody-fire
Mila Besich, T.C. Brown and Jennifer Carnes contributed to this article.
Aftermath of the Cody Fire. Photo by Bob Alberti (albatross.org)