Residents in Arizona flee ahead of swift wildfires
A pair of fast-moving wildfires continued to grow on Monday in Arizona, burning more than 100,000 acres, prompting evacuations in some areas and closing four state highways.
Residents in Superior watched warily as the Telegraph Fire ballooned to more than 56,000 acres, surrounding the mining town to the east, south and west as crews worked to contain the fire along U.S. 60 and homes south of the highway. The blaze was expected to grow this week as dry conditions and high winds fuel the flames.
Smoke was visible around the town east of Phoenix. Flames engulfed one of the area’s landmarks, Picketpost Mountain, south of Superior.
“If you can see it from miles away, you can only imagine how big the flames were,” said Camran Ramos, a Superior resident who told the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, that she and her family were preparing to evacuate at a moment’s notice.
They’ll take “the important things: papers, medicines. Everything else, if it goes, it goes,” she said.
The Telegraph Fire remained at zero containment late Monday. No structural damage or injuries were reported as of Monday evening.
To the east, on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation near Globe, the Mescal Fire had consumed more than 52,800 acres, growing by 14,000 acres since Sunday, according to fire officials and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. The fire was only 8% contained, according to InciWeb, a wildfire tracking website operated by the U.S. Forest Service.
The Mescal Fire, which began on June 1, is being fueled by grass and brush as well as drought conditions, fire officials said. The cause remains under investigation.
Though the cause of the Telegraph Fire is also under investigation, it was most likely started by people, according to InciWeb.
The wildfires have forced the Arizona Department of Transportation to close stretches of U.S. 60 – one of the state’s primary major east-west highways – as well as state Routes 60, 70 and 170.