SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Nearly 200 firefighters on Friday battled a wildfire northeast of Phoenix where air tankers were dropping retardant on the flames that forced dozens of residents to flee their homes overnight.
Arizona fire officials said there have been no immediate reports of any injuries or homes damaged by the human-caused fire that broke out at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday near the Boulder Heights subdivision, just outside of Scottsdale.
Elsewhere, crews continued to make progress on large wildfires that broke out earlier this week, including one south of Bend, Oregon, and another about 60 miles (97 km) east of Fresno, California.
In Arizona, an estimated 60 people had left their homes by Friday morning after Maricopa County emergency personnel ordered evacuations for the subdivision on the edge of the Tonto National Forest. The blaze dubbed the Boulder View Fire had burned about 5 square miles (13 square kilometers) with zero containment, authorities said.
“The southeast side of the fire remained active throughout the night producing 20-40 foot (6-12 meter) flame lengths in areas,” Tiffany Davila, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, said Friday.
“Additional resources were redirected to that side of the fire last night to begin structure protection and help crews start firing operations to tie the fire into nearby roads,” she said.
The Red Cross set up an evacuation center at a high school in Scottsdale and evacuation shelters for horses and other large animals were established at several locations, including the rodeo grounds at nearby Cave Creek.
The National Interagency Fire Center said large wildfires also were burning Friday in Alaska, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Washington.
In central California, about 200 firefighters were battling the entirely uncontained Basin fire that has burned an estimated 9 square miles (23 square km) about 60 miles (97 km) east of Fresno. It was the only one still burning among 18 fires sparked by lightning along the western edge of the Sierra when a storm moved through earlier this week, the fire center said.
In Oregon’s high desert, firefighters said Friday they had dug fire lines around nearly half of the Darlene 3 fire that had forced hundreds of evacuations earlier in the week south of Bend, near La Pine. That fire has now burned an estimated 6 square miles (15 square km) and was listed at 42% containment.
