Ozarks’ Boxley Valley blaze contained

Firefighters have fully contained a wildfire within 425 acres of timber near Boxley Valley in the Ozark Mountains.

The fire is in northwest Newton County, just to the west of Boxley Valley, an area popular for elk watching.

The containment area is bordered by Arkansas 21 to the west, an old dirt road to the east, and a hand-dug fire line to the north. The highway and road intersect to the south.

“What’s going on now is it’s just smoldering,” said Caven Clark, a spokesman for the Buffalo National River. “It’s so dry we’re going to have to monitor it around the edges.”

Clark said the fire will continue to burn downed trees and stumps, much of which is left over from the 2009 ice storm. He said the fire is burning on the ground, not in the tree canopy.

“It’s a good burn,” he said. “If we had intended it, it couldn’t have been better.”

Clark said the fire will be monitored until it rains. The National Weather Service doesn’t have any rain in its forecast for the area through Saturday. Clark said a longrange National Park Service forecast predicts a dusting of snow Dec. 21, but that probably won’t help much.

“We’ll have people monitor it around the edges until we don’t need to monitor it anymore,” he said.

Clark said two fires totaling about 65 acres were reported in the area Sunday. He said firefighters allowed the fires to merge within the containment area. The cause of each fire is under investigation.

Clark said the combined fire grew from about 200 acres Monday to 425 acres early Tuesday. He said 40-mile-per-hour wind gusts spread the fire rapidly Monday night.

“It’s burned out in the containment area,” Clark said of the 425 acres. “It was moving fast yesterday. We had a lot of wind throughout the day.”

The containment zone includes about 50 acres of private land and 374 acres owned by the federal government, according to a news release from the Buffalo National River. Much of the containment efforts were on or near vertical hillsides in rough terrain.

Clark said there are no reports of injuries, property damage or evacuations in the area.

He said 31 firefighters worked to control the fire Monday and 22 were monitoring it Tuesday.

“The fire danger is still extremely high,” he said. “People need to be very, very mindful of that indefinitely.”

The Buffalo National River has restricted the use of fires in the park since Nov. 30, according to its website. Open fires are allowed only in metal fire rings and pedestal grills at developed, established campgrounds and day-use areas.

Charcoal, propane or other contained fuel is allowed for grill use. Smoking is allowed in the park as long as smokers use “extreme caution” when discarding cigarette butts, according to the website.

All 75 Arkansas counties are listed in high danger of wildfire, according to the Arkansas Forestry Commission. Sixty-six Arkansas counties were under burn bans as of Tuesday afternoon.