Some gains reported to blunt Wallow Fire

At least one structure burned in Nutrioso, and the fire flared up around Alpine as well. Both communities were evacuated Thursday.

Sparks whipped up by the thunderhead blew the fire across U.S. 180, sending it up the slopes of the 10,912-foot Escudilla Mountain and across the state line into New Mexico.

Between 100 and 300 people were evacuated from rural subdivisions and ranches in the fire's path, said Brannon Eagar, undersheriff of Apache County.

Joe Reinarz, commander of the interagency team fighting the fire, told a community meeting that he had been pleased with Saturday's operations to halt the fire's advance toward Greer, Eagar and Springerville.

But the afternoon wind brought bad news.

"Mother Nature's a cruel mistress sometimes, and she took it to us this afternoon," said Reinarz.

Red flag conditions are predicted for today, as well.

Things were looking up earlier Sunday after what was described as a "moderate day" on the Wallow Fire on Saturday - even though it grew to 184,000 acres Saturday, a 40,000-acre increase over the day before.

The 184,000-acre figure, recorded by air during an infrared flyover Sunday morning, requires some explanation.

It includes the efforts of a 2,140-person army of firefighters on this fire. They burned back from 33 miles of new fire line, operations described as successful by Kelly Wood, spokesman for the two incident teams managing the fire.

The efforts to halt and tie together two northward advancing fingers of the fire could provide a defense for the resorts, cabins, historic lodges and seasonal homes in Greer, as well as for the 5,000 residents of Eagar and Springerville.

Greer was mostly a ghost town on Sunday. Visitors had been scared off by the increasing smoke and a pending evacuation order Friday and Saturday, said Mike Carter Jr., one of the town's 120 or so permanent residents.

Carter and his girlfriend, Kristin Spillman, had moved their dogs to Show Low, and Carter stowed his tools with a friend. He maintains and manages two lodges in Greer, while Spillman runs a food truck called the Frosty Bottom Café.

They had hoped for a big weekend, but the annual "Greer Days" was canceled by the fire. The couple intended to stay until the evacuation order comes. Carter said most of his neighbors already were gone.

Allan Johnson, part owner of the town's oldest lodge, 100-year-old Molly Butler's, loaded up the lodge's historic photographs and antiques from his nearby cabin. He put the restored 1928 Oldsmobile with a Molly Butler logo on a trailer and headed out.

Employees who live in Greer volunteered to stay behind to keep the lodge, restaurant and bar open.

One of them, Barb Keehn, said she didn't mind the smoke that blanketed the alpine meadow in a toxic fog thick enough to chew up and spit out.

It meant the wind wasn't blowing the fire.

"Greer is still in the same holding pattern," Wood said. It remains on alert for an evacuation order that has not yet been issued.

The team was optimistic early Sunday with the burned-out meadows and the lines it scratched beside a network of forest roads and U.S. 191. But the fire remains dangerous, and weather each day is volatile as the push across U.S. 180 demonstrated.

"We're really worried about new starts," Wood said. "We could be off to the races."

The fire crews were working the fire, instead of just protecting homes in its path, as it ripped through more than 200 square miles of conifer forest in its first four days.

U.S. Forest Service archaeologist Peter Taylor was supervising three students on a clearance project when the fire blew up the second day. "The smoke was just going crazy. We hiked up the hill to take a look, and we were in awe."

Taylor, who previously fought fires for the Forest Service, said this fire is burning in the best possible terrain for the fire. "It's mixed conifer. It's thick, It's really heavy fuels, and it's steep.

Taylor and his wife, Cathy, a medical doctor, live in Nutrioso. They had to evacuate their home in a hurry and are running out of clothes.

Their Prius could accommodate only the couple, one suitcase, three Labrador retrievers and a Jack Russell-Chihuahua mix they were keeping for a friend.

Taylor said many of the area's transplants, like the couple themselves, are formerly from Tucson.

Like many evacuees, they worry as much about the beauty of the forest as they do their homes, most of which have been spared so far.

Arizona wildfire activity

Wallow Fire

• Started: May 29

• Burned: More than 184,000 acres

Horseshoe 2 Fire

• Started: May 8

• Burned: More than 100,200 acres

Murphy Fire

• Started: May 30

• Burned: About 22,000 acres

Contact reporter Tom Beal at 573-4158 or tbeal@azstarnet.com