- PHOENIX: A forest fire that has scorched over 480 square miles in eastern Arizona flared out of control for a 10th day on Wednesday and advanced on two mountain towns near New Mexico, forcing hundreds more people from their homes.
The latest evacuations raised the number of residents displaced by the wildfire, the second-largest on record in Arizona, to as many as 3,500 in communities flanking the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest, state and local officials said.
Smoke from the conflagration continued to drift across several states as fareast as Iowa, officials said. More than 2,100 firefighters faced another tough day of fierce winds that fanned the massive blaze northward and closer to the White Mountains communities of Eager and Springerville, home to an estimated 7,500 residents combined.