Havasu Piles Declared Wildfire 2026

The Havasu Fire on Havasu National Wildlife Refuge began on the morning of January 19, 2026, as a result of a prescribed fire that extended beyond the designated project area into adjacent receptive fuels, consuming 4,084 acres of refuge lands. The planned prescribed fire area involved 185 acres of previously constructed mechanical piles of salt cedar, which were ignited under an approved program of work, prescribed fire plan, and fire management plan. The wildfire was declared and managed as a Type 3 Incident with 88 firefighters engaged and resulted in minimal damage to infrastructure but consumed multiple habitats for threatened and endangered species. The wildfire remained within the boundaries of the refuge but threatened the community and infrastructure of Topock, AZ and impacted the local area with dense concentrations of smoke.