Copper Canyon Fire & Medical District responded to southbound Interstate 17 at milepost 288 for a reported semi-trailer on fire at approximately 1:40 am on March 5.
On arrival, crews found a 53-foot-long box trailer with approximately 40,000 pounds of various plastic parts, fully involved with fire.
The drivers of the semi were able to detach the semi from the trailer and move the truck a safe distance from the fire.
The fire resulted in Interstate 17 SB being closed for several hours. No injuries were reported. CCFMD responded with two engines, a water tender and a HAZMAT truck.
CCFMD was also assisted by Verde Valley Fire District, Arizona Department of Public Safety, Camp Verde Marshal’s Office and the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Christopher Fox Graham is the managing editor of the Sedona Rock Rocks News, The Camp Verde Journal and the Cottonwood Journal Extra. Hired by Larson Newspapers as a copy editor in 2004, he became assistant manager editor in October 2009 and managing editor in August 2013. Graham has won awards for editorials, investigative news reporting, headline writing, page design and community service from the Arizona Newspapers Association. Graham has also been featured in Editor & Publisher magazine. He lectures on journalism and First Amendment law and is a nationally recognized performance aka slam poet. Retired U.S. Army Col. John Mills, former director of Cybersecurity Policy, Strategy, and International Affairs referred to him as "Mr. Slam Poet." In January 2025, the International Astronomical Union formally named asteroid 29722 Chrisgraham (1999 AQ23) in his honor at the behest of Lowell Observatory, citing him as "an American journalist and longtime managing editor of Sedona Red Rock News. He is a nationally-recognized slam poet who has written and performed multiple poems about Pluto and other space themes."
