Diamond Fire cause ‘inconclusive;’ investigator says scene not secured

SCOTTSDALE, AZ (AZFamily) — A wildfire previously thought to be sparked by arson has now been ruled inconclusive.

“There were somethings that we wish again were processed a little bit differently,” said Aaron Casem, the state prevention chief with the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management.

Casem was a part of the Diamond fire investigation.

This wildfire burned northeast of Scottsdale in June 2023. It scorched 2,000 acres and threatened hundreds of homes, but fortunately, no homes were burned.

Originally, the wildfire was suspected to be arson.

Casem said when he arrived on the scene to investigate roughly 12 hours after the fire started, he found the area wasn’t secure.

He said he found construction crews working on building homes in an area that could have held key evidence.

“We typically want a sterile area, so the least amount of suppression activity, witnesses coming through. The more we can keep people out of that area, the easier it will always be,” said Casem.

Wildfire investigations are a long process but after over a year, Casem believes the lack of evidence may be a result of the lack of security on scene.

“The big thing is preserving that origin area so we can collect that data and process it accurately,” he said.

Casem said local municipalities oversee securing wildfire scenes.

Scottsdale Fire Chief Tom Shannon released a statement to Arizona’s Family.

A spokesperson for the Scottsdale police department told Arizona’s Family that they were focused on door-to-door evacuations that day.

Casem said they’ve since worked closely with Scottsdale on securing wildfire scenes, which he said they have not had any issues with since the Diamond Fire.

“One of our big collaborators, which is Scottsdale, was able to take those lessons learned and moving forward, there was the Gate Fire a couple weeks ago. They were able to take those lessons learned from the Diamond Fire and put them into practice and they were able to secure the scene,” he said.

Casem also wants to note that the problem of securing wildfire scenes is something he finds all across Arizona and is something they actively work on.

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