The wildfire is coming to a close in northern Arizona’s Coconino National Forest and it has been a mixed bag. There were fewer fires than usual but because of the Slide Fire, last June, the number of acres burned was higher than normal.

Spokesman Jeff Walther says the area got more rain during the monsoon season, than normal, but that can be a curse for the forest.

“It really depends on the snowpack for the winter.  If we have a good snowpack it’ll help compress a lot of this, what we would call fine fuels or grasses, which are in abundance right now due to the wet monsoon that we’ve had," Walther said.

Overall, Walther said 142 fires charred about 40,000 acres of the Coconino this year, including the 21,000 burned in the Slide Fire.