TUCSON — Crews on Saturday worked to protect several small Arizona communities from two large wildfires by clearing away brush near homes and planning to set fires aimed at robbing the blazes of their fuel.
The Wallow fire, near the White Mountain community of Alpine, grew to 218 square miles, or more than 140,000 acres, by Saturday morning.
The fire is the third-largest in state history, with its smoke visible in parts of southern Colorado. Fire officials said they had zero containment of the fire near the New Mexico-Arizona state line, which has forced an unknown number of people to evacuate.
The fire has burned four rental cabins since it started May 29, the U.S. Forest Service said.
Crews were working to protect homes in Alpine and nearby Nutrioso. The fire had reached Alpine’s outskirts and was about 2 miles from homes in Nutrioso, said Bob Dyson, a spokesman for the team fighting the blaze.
A shift in winds around midafternoon Saturday blew embers that started a spot fire at the southwestern corner of Alpine. A helicopter knocked down that fire by dumping water on it, and no buildings were damaged as a result.
Authorities Friday night warned residents of the town of Greer to be ready to leave, but no evacuation order had been issued. Greer has fewer than 200 permanent residents, but the town and area attract many vacationers.
Gov. Jan Brewer traveled to Springerville to get a briefing from the fire team’s commander and took an aerial tour of the blaze to get an appreciation for its scope and size, said Matthew Benson, a spokesman for Brewer.
