Expanding wildfires force evacuations in Arizona

One of the largest wildfires in Arizona's history grew even bigger on Friday as it cast an orange glow over people fleeing their mountain homes and sent smoke across skies 320km away. Dozens of other fires blazed in several Western states. After the so-called Wallow Fire expanded by 15,000 acres on Friday, authorities warned residents of the town of Greer to be ready to evacuate if necessary. The Apache County Sheriff's Department issued the notice to Greer, but there was no word on when or if the residents would have to leave. Greer has less than 200 permanent residents but the town and area attract many vacationers. Scores of people in a few White Mountain towns in the area were ordered to evacuate over the past two days. Fire incident commander John Philbin said the fire pushed northward and expanded by 15,000 acres to 120,600 acres, or 51 square kilometres. That made the blaze the state's third largest ever. The biggest, the Rodeo-Chediski, burned 469,000 acres in 2002 and the Cave Creek complex fire burned 248,000 acres in 2005. The Wallow fire just surpassed the Willow fire, which burned 120,000 acres in 2004. The US Forest Service said that four summer rental cabins burned on Friday as the blaze continued to consume dead and dry trees and brush in the White Mountains near the New Mexico border. Meanwhile, the Horseshoe Two fire burning in southern Arizona has become the fifth-largest wildfire in state history at 86,000 acres. "That's really significant," said Jim Payne, a US Forest Service spokesman. "This does not foretell well for the future. Here we are with literally another five to six weeks of fire season." Residents in the scenic mountain community of Alpine were ordered on Thursday night to pack up and leave as the Wallow fire neared. Another wildfire burning in northern Arizona has burned about 100 acres near Camp Navajo, an Army National Guard Base west of Flagstaff. Smaller fires were burning on Friday near Silver City, New Mexico, and in Colorado. Another wildfire was burning about 80km east of Los Angeles in the Cleveland National Forest.