Raging 4,000-Acre Ariz. Wildfire
Pastor Dale Morgan
May 19, 1:20 PM EDT
*Raging 4,000-Acre Ariz. Wildfire*
PAYSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Firefighters appeared to be slowly gaining control
over a wildfire that has threatened homes and other structures in two
northern Arizona forests. The 6-square-mile Promontory fire was 60
percent contained by Saturday and officials projected full containment
by Tuesday.
Crews were working Saturday to reinforce a containment line surrounding
the 4,000-acre fire and patrol for any hot spots. Nearly 700
firefighters were working the blaze, which started Sunday.
Crews burned vegetation around the fire Friday to try to starve it of
fuel. They also used bulldozers to scrape a second line around the fire
on the Tonto and Apache-Sitgreaves national forests, said Lori Cook, a
spokeswoman for the team fighting the blaze.
"We're starting to secure the southern portion of the fire," Cook said.
"The north end looks great. Everything is going as planned."
Rain in the area Friday also doused some flames and dampened other
unburned pockets within the blaze. But Cook said thunderstorms forecast
Saturday also could bring wind.
"When you have erratic winds, you have erratic fire behavior," she said.
Flames remained about a mile from the community of Christopher Creek.
The community is south of See Canyon, where some 20 residents were
evacuated from cabins. The caretaker of a nearby bible camp also was
evacuated.
Officials said the evacuees could be allowed to return this weekend if
the fire does not flare up.
Elsewhere, rain helped firefighters fight a blaze Friday that burned 27
square miles of forest in the dry southern New Jersey Pinelands. The New
Jersey Forest Fire Service had the fire 90 percent contained on
Saturday, and hoped to have it fully under control by the end of the
day, said Bert Plante, a division fire warden.
At the height of the fire, 6,000 people were evacuated and a handful of
homes were damaged or destroyed. The blaze was between 90 and 95 percent
contained as of late Friday afternoon, said Jim Petrini, assistant fire
warden with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. He said it would likely
be declared under control this weekend.
New Jersey Air National Guard officials said the fire might have been
sparked by a flare dropped from an F-16 fighter jet during a training
mission Tuesday.
Firefighters were making progress battling a wildfire along the
Georgia-Florida border, which was 70 percent contained Friday, officials
said.
But Ronda Sutphen, a fire prevention officer with the Florida Division
of Forestry, said a cold front expected this weekend could spread the
fire. "It's a bad forecast," Sutphen said.
Residents of about 200 homes were allowed to return Friday, but some 541
homes remained evacuated Friday, Columbia County spokeswoman Paulette
Lord said.
A fire in northern Minnesota that had burned 117 square miles in the
U.S. and Canada as of Friday could be brought under control by Sunday,
officials said.