A wind-driven forest fire briefly chased as many as 1,000 people from their homes in eastern Arizona, but changing weather allowed fire crews to get the upper hand on that blaze and a larger one in New Mexico.
A fire near Whiteriver, Ariz., on the Fort Apache Reservation, threatened 200 to 300 homes on Sunday, and at one point the flames got to within 100 yards of some houses, said Chadeen Palmer, spokeswoman for the fire crew.
Residents were told to leave during the afternoon, but were allowed to return by 9 p.m. after crews dug a fire break, Palmer said. The blaze was 95 percent contained after blackening 110 acres.
Wind kicked up the fire quickly but then eased. “It just did its thing, curled up and died,” Palmer said.
Wind also abated Sunday in west-central New Mexico, and a 8,595-acre fire in the Zuni Mountains near Grants was declared 100 percent contained, fire information officer Paula Shattuck said.
The fire started June 12 with an illegal campfire set by three juveniles, who were apprehended, she said.
Elsewhere in New Mexico, two crews were working on the final stages of a 64,448-acre fire in the Capitan Mountains that was started by lightning on May 10 and had burned 12 cabins. It was 95 percent contained, officials said.
The fire near Whiteriver was likely human caused and is under investigation, Palmer said. “It’s summer time and there aren’t a whole lot of things to do around here,” she said.
That fire was just east of last year’s Kinishba Fire, which charred nearly 25,000 acres near Whiteriver and forced the evacuation of 5,000 people.