By admin 
SEDONA, AZ (AZFamily) — Visitors and residents of Sedona are seeing a lot of smoke over the red rocks on Friday as a wildfire closes a major Arizona highway and forces evacuations.
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The Pocket Fire started about 5 p.m. near East Pocket, also known as the “Edge of the World,” in the Coconino National Forest, about 7 miles north of Sedona.
The Coconino National Forest said evacuations have been ordered for visitors in the Oak Creek Canyon area between Sedona and Forest Highlands and Edge of the World. Click or tap here for a map of the evacuated area.
“So the evacuation and all of our actions right now really are focused on ensuring public safety and ensuring that we have the ability to move fire crews where they need to within the area that becomes effective as that fire continues to move north,” Sedona Fire Assistant Fire Chief Jayson Coil said.
State Route 89A is shut down for 23 miles between Sedona and Interstate 17.
Volunteers with the American Red Cross will be opening an evacuation center at Red Rock Jr. High School located at 995 Upper Red Rock Loop Road in Sedona. The shelter is expected to open at 10 p.m.
It has burned about 500 acres so far. There was no word on containment.
Firefighters heading to the wildfire include two hotshot crews, one dozer, five engines and more, forest officials said. The Coconino National Forest attacked the flames from the air before sunset.
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Firefighters are worried about Saturday’s winds, which reach about 30 mph, as the fire moves north.
“The winds tomorrow need to be out of the west-southwest,” Coil said.
It is unclear what sparked the fire.
The fire is burning in the same area as where the Slide Fire burned some 21,000 acres in 2014. The fire temporarily closed Slide Rock State Park and sparked evacuations along Oak Creek. No buildings were destroyed.
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