SPRINGERVILLE - Firefighters on Sunday expressed their first real sense of hope that they were making progress in their battle against a huge Eastern Arizona wildfire burning since May, and officials began allowing roughly 7,000 residents to return home to two towns threatened for days by the blaze.
To guard against flare-ups, fire crews remained in Springerville and the nearby town of Eagar, the two communities where evacuation orders were lifted over the weekend. But the blaze was "no longer a threat to the citizens" returning home, said Apache County Sheriff's Cmdr. Webb Hogle, although authorities still cautioned the elderly and those with health problems or very young children to stay away because of smoke.
"We've been praying every day to come home," Springerville resident Valarina Walker, 49, said Sunday while chatting with other returning locals outside a convenience store in town.
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The bed of her red pickup truck was overflowing with boxes of photo albums and family heirlooms.
"Just took what couldn't be replaced, left the rest behind," Walker said. "I'm just so happy and excited to be home. We thank God for those firefighters."
About 2,700 others who live in several resort communities in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest remained under an evacuation order.
On the road into downtown Springerville, a working-class town nestled near the forest edge, a flashing sign read: "We missed you, welcome home."
"I just cried when I drove past that sign," said Jane Finch, 51, who had just returned to Eagar and had a tearful reunion with her husband, who stayed behind to keep the Circle K open for firefighters. "It's so good to be home and see all the people we missed."
Meanwhile, firefighters stopped short of jubilation Sunday morning, but said they were finally gaining ground against the entire 693-square-mile, or 444,000-acre, inferno, called the Wallow Fire, that was running along the New Mexico state line, even as the winds picked up considerably and containment remained at just 6 percent.
"Everything is holding," Fire Operations Chief Jerome Macdonald said. "Compared to what we've been dealing with just two days ago, ... we're feeling a lot more confident. We turned a corner."
Macdonald said strong winds actually have helped firefighters as the gusts burned off fuel in the central part of the blaze before it reached their fire lines. He expected fire containment to go up to 10 percent when new figures were released this morning.
Fire is burning in New Mexico, but it was started intentionally by crews trying to burn out fuel in front of the approaching blaze.
"We were not going to let the fire dictate to us when it crossed the line," Jerry Kelly, a fire information officer working on the eastern front of the fire, said Sunday. "We were going to make the decision when and where that happened."
On Friday, officials said the blaze had crossed the border, but they said Sunday that turned out to be a separate fire, possibly started by lightning, and was quickly extinguished.
About 30 homes and cabins have been destroyed since the fire began on May 29.
While the blaze remained perilously close - about four miles away - to two major power lines that carry electricity from Arizona to West Texas, Macdonald said firefighters were able to burn off most of the fuel in between, lessening the risk of disruption. The fire still threatened the picturesque Arizona mountain towns of Alpine, Nutrioso and Greer, where officials said residents would likely not be allowed back in for up to five more days.
The small New Mexico town of Luna, just across the state line, also remained under threat. About 150 New Mexico National Guard soldiers were helping with evacuations and security.
Officials said about 4,300 people were working to bring the fire under control, and the blaze had so far cost about $27 million to fight.
It is the second-largest in state history, but Macdonald said he didn't it expect it would surpass the largest - the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski fire, which burned 732 square miles, nearly 470,000 acres, and destroyed 491 buildings.
Officials were still warning residents in the reopened mountain towns, and as far away as Albuquerque and Santa Fe, of severe air-quality issues from the smoke.
At one point over the weekend in Eastern Arizona, levels of tiny, sooty particles in the air were nearly 20 times the federal health standard, said Mark Shaffer of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
The microscopic particles, about 1/28th the width of a human hair, can get lodged in the lungs and cause serious health problems, both immediate and long-term, he said.
More fires burn
Murphy Fire
U.S. Forest Service crews were making progress on the fire burning four miles west of Tubac. The fire was 90 percent contained after burning more than 68,000 acres, with damage estimate at $5.5 million.
Several threatened and endangered species in Sycamore Canyon and the Pajarita Wilderness are at risk. A ranch in the area is also threatened, officials said.
Horseshoe 2
The blaze had burned through more than 220 square miles, or 141,000 acres, of brush and timber since it started in early May in the Chiricahuas.
The fire has destroyed 23 structures but caused no serious injuries. It was 45 percent contained, and fire officials hoped to have it fully contained by late June.
The cost of fighting the Horseshoe 2 fire is nearly $36 million.
- Staff and wire reports
