A Skycrane helicopter flies into heavy smoke and fire in the Sangre de Christo Mountain near Westcliffe, Colo. on Tueday, June 14, 2011. as part of the firefighting efforts to control the Duckett Fire that has burned since Sunday in Custer County. The fire is one of several in southern Colorado and nothern Mew Mexico. (AP Photo/Pueblo Chieftain, Tracy Harmon)
LUNA, N.M. - A massive wildfire in eastern Arizona is burning more acres than the largest in state history, although some of that area is in New Mexico, where flare-ups that skipped along treetops Tuesday threatened a small mountain town.
The Wallow Fire has burned more than 733 square miles since Memorial Day weekend. Fire spokesman John Helmich said Tuesday morning it's not yet certain whether the acreage that has burned in Arizona makes it larger than the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire, which burned 732 square miles, destroyed 491 buildings and cost about $400 million to fight.
The current blaze has burned only 31 homes and some other structures. It has encroached into New Mexico about a mile from the working-class community of Luna, where residents were warned to be prepared to flee.
In the state's opposite corner, near the Colorado border, a wildfire fanned by high winds that has forced hundreds of people from their homes more than doubled in size to more than 9 square miles.
"We're watching trees explode before our eyes. It's horrendous," said Barbara Riley, a schoolteacher and bed-and-breakfast owner in the northeastern New Mexico community of Raton. A 20-mile section of the main north-south highway through New Mexico and Colorado remained closed.
Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18274357?source=rss
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