Firefighters Progress on Reservation Blaze

Firefighters made advances Wednesday on one side of a forest fire that has forced as many as 5,000 people from their homes, but wind and lightning could threaten their progress.

The fire on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation was 10% contained after blackening 14,000 to 16,000 acres and leading to several thousand evacuations in Whiteriver and other reservation communities in eastern Arizona.

“We’re not doing as well as we’d like to but we’re doing OK,” said Larry Humphrey, commander of the firefighting team.

Crews made headway on the side of the wildfire closest to the evacuated communities and were evaluating when residents might be able to return, Humphrey said.

Elsewhere in the Southwest, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado was closed after lightning started six blazes. Officials initially feared the fires would threaten ruins there but later said there was no significant danger.

“We hadn’t even put our bags in our room when the rangers came up saying, ‘Get in your car and get out,’ ” William McLoughlin of New York said of his arrival at Mesa Verde.

Three of the fires were contained, but two others on the park boundary had merged.

The fire on the Apache reservation was within about a third of a mile of homes around Whiteriver, the tribal headquarters. The flames also had gotten to within three miles of several mountain communities. The arrival of flames there would trigger evacuations in Pinetop-Lakeside and other communities, where the population swells to 30,000 in the summer.

The fire was started by lightning Sunday east of the starting point of last year’s Rodeo-Chediski fire, the largest wildfire in Arizona history, which charred 469,000 acres and destroyed 491 homes.

In northern Washington, at least six homes were destroyed in Okanogan by a wildfire Wednesday, and the 150-acre fire was threatening dozens more, authorities said.