Progress made with fire that forced evacuations.
PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — Crews made considerable progress Thursday fighting an Arizona forest fire that shut down youth summer camps, forced thousands from their homes and came dangerously close to consuming a town.
The fire was one of the top firefighting priorities in the U.S. after it rapidly grew in size while burning through a dense, rugged forest.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey toured the fire zone about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Phoenix and thanked firefighters for saving communities at risk of being overrun by flames.
The fire crossed a road a day earlier and approached the town of Dewey-Humboldt, but officials said firefighters saved the community from devastation.
“When that fire jumped that road and started heading to Dewey-Humboldt, we thought it was gone,” Sheriff Scott Mascher said. “I thought there was no stopping it.”
Authorities estimated that the fire burned a handful of homes, but did not have an exact count.
It also ruined vacations for children and campers in a cooler part of Arizona that many head to in the summer to escape the stifling desert heat of Phoenix.
About 1,400 children had to leave summer camps run by churches and the YMCA among others where children swim, ride horses and participate in outdoor games and activities. Several campgrounds closed for the normally busy July Fourth weekend.
Authorities used school buses to transport children from the camps to the small mountain city of Prescott, where they re-connected with their parents, said Yavapai County Supervisor Tom Thurman. No camps burned, but county officials did not want to take risks.
“For the kids, we’re just being proactive,” Thurman said.
After spending two nights in a shelter for people evacuated from the fire, Tracey McCabe was looking forward Thursday to sleeping in her own bed after authorities lifted some evacuation orders and said improving weather conditions were helping them fight the fire.
McCabe was among several hundred residents in the town of Mayer, population 1,400, allowed to go home after fire officials determined their homes were no longer at risk from the fire that started Saturday and has burned 39 square miles (101 square kilometers). The cause was not known Thursday.
McCabe worried that her house might have had an orange tag placed on it by authorities to mark residents evacuated safely away from the fire zone.
“That means you’re not there. It’s an open invitation to thieves,” she said.
Firefighters on Thursday were also battling wildfires in California, New Mexico, Utah and Washington state.
The Arizona blaze grew slightly overnight but fire officials said firefighters had contained 25 to 30 percent of its perimeter by Thursday and that lower wind speeds would make it easier for firefighters to try to quell it.
Higher humidity also helped firefighters on Wednesday despite a temporary halt to aircraft operations because of an unauthorized drone flying in the area. Several helicopters and fire crews had to stop working for about 45 minutes to an hour because the drone posed a serious safety hazard. Authorities did not find the pilot.
More than 800 firefighters were battling the blaze burning in the communities around Prescott, which draws a mix of desert dwellers escaping the heat, retirees and visitors to its famed Old West-themed Whiskey Row lined with bars.
Between 3,000 and 4,000 people remained out of their homes Thursday, officials said.
In the town of Dewey-Humboldt, David Eastlack, his girlfriend and their three daughters woke up Wednesday to find ash falling “like snowflakes” and a warning from authorities to prepare for a possible evacuation.