Dead, injured ducks remain after Phoenix park fire

A fire that burned several palm trees in a west Phoenix park on Sunday also killed numerous ducks and injured others, which have remained there for several days after the fire, causing concern among area residents.

Phoenix officials said they are preparing resources to clean up the area, which sustained widespread damage.

“There are all of these dead ducks,” said Lydia Guzman of Phoenix, adding that they still were there on Wednesday.

“Some of them are limping, their feathers all burnt ... It looks like some of the ducks died protecting their babies. It looks like there are a few baby ducks walking around looking for their mom.”

The fire occurred on an island at Desert West Park, and torched the dirt, several trees and killed much of the local wildlife. The park is near 67th Avenue and Encanto Boulevard.

Phoenix city spokesman Gregg Bach said the fire started early Sunday evening.

“The main park property was not affected,” he said. “The fire was isolated to the island. The Phoenix Fire Department responded and extinguished it.”

One Phoenix resident, Michelle Nunez Gallego, took a video of the fire raging at the island.

“I am also worried about the wildlife there,” she said. “The ducks and geese had nests on that little island.”

She watched as firefighters put out the fire.

“They were standing on the bridge west of the fire,” Gallego explained. “I was also wondering about the chemicals in the water used to douse the fire. The runoff went into the lake. Is it toxic to the fish?”

Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Kenny Overton wasn’t sure whether the crews used foam to extinguish the fire, but said foam that is used meets federal standards for environmental safety.

“The environmental portion also accounts for fish toxicity. So no, I don’t believe this was toxic to the fish,” he said.

Guzman’s son, James Saldivar, saw the fire video on Facebook and decided to check out the aftermath with his girlfriend at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

“We counted about 10 to 11 dead ducks in the small little portion of the island,” he said.

The two of them didn’t enter the island, which is off-limits, but from the banks they could spot more ducks in the distance. “We saw, even further, the island had maybe 10 or 11 more little black dots that we knew were ducks. They looked like little black pine cones.”

Saldivar said it was upsetting to see the dead animals.

“My girlfriend was pretty upset. She thinks someone did it intentionally. At first I thought, ‘You know, it could have been a wildfire,’ but now I think it’s pretty evident it was started by somebody. The flames were just so high,” he said.

While he and his girlfriend explored the park, he snapped a few photos and sent them to his mom.

“He told me, ‘There’s a lot of dead ducks, and it looks like some of them died protecting their nest, and there’s a lot of singed ducks, injured ducks,’” Guzman said. “I told him not to disturb them ... There are plenty of injured ducks still there that can’t fly.”

Guzman said dead fish also could be seen in the water.

“It’s just horrible,” she said on Wednesday. “And they’re still there.”

She went to Desert West Park on Wednesday afternoon to see it for herself and said she saw a city vehicle in the park. “They were just parked, though,” she said. “They didn’t seem to be doing anything.”

Bach said Wednesday the city was putting together the resources and equipment needed to clean up the area.