BISBEE — The Bisbee resident who started the Moon Canyon fire Thursday morning by trying to burn felled trees without a permit may face charges later this week.

The matter is currently under investigation, and just what charges might be filed have yet to be determined, Bisbee Police Officer R. Coronado said Sunday.

Thursday night, Bisbee police officers were kept busy with residents getting in the way of  firefighters doing their jobs on the hills above Old Bisbee and back in Zacatecus Canyon. Coronado said one man nearly met with serious injury as he tried to beat back the flames with a T-shirt and then fell down the rocky slope trying to escape the fire that had begun to creep around him. There also were reports of people, who may have wanted an up-close view of the fire, preventing a back burn in Zacatecus Canyon.

As of Sunday afternoon, Bisbee firefighters and wildland firefighters from across the southeast were still on the slopes of the Mule Mountains to the north of Old Bisbee.

Lathe Evans, who handled incident command for the first time with the Bureau of Land Management, said there were still about 30 firefighters in the field eliminating the remaining hot spots.

“Things went so well yesterday that we were able to let most of the people go home. We contained it and created a fire break line all the way around the fire. The crews did a great job,” he said.

Around 800 acres of wildlands burned over the past four days and at one point Thursday threatened several Old Bisbee homes that were in remote canyons surrounded by brush and dried grasses.

Homes along the slopes of Zacatecus Canyon, High Road and Art Avenue and others were evacuated Thursday night and were allowed to return home Saturday evening. Around 130 people were displaced for the two nights.

Red Cross volunteers set up a shelter in the basement of the Convention Center. No one from Bisbee stayed at the shelter, reported volunteer Dennis Brock on Friday.

Evans indicated that the fire would probably be completely out by Sunday evening and the remaining firefighters would get to go home safe and sound. “We had no injuries and that is pretty remarkable considering the terrain,” he added.

Bisbee Fire Capt. George Castillo said around 800 acres had burned.

About 180 firefighters from Tucson, Palominas, Patagonia, Huachuca City, Rio Rico, Safford, Douglas, Elfrida, Northwest Fire, Arizona State Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service assisted in fighting the fire and providing equipment.

More personnel and equipment would have been available, Evans said, a few months from now during the height of the fire season. As it was, he was hard pressed to get as many firefighters and aircraft experienced with wildland fires as he did.