Fire Licks Oak Creek Canyon in Arizona

Fire crews struggled with hot, dry and windy weather Monday as they fought to protect hundreds of homes and businesses from a 1,100-acre wildfire creeping into northern Arizona’s scenic Oak Creek Canyon.

The fire started Sunday and spread quickly, forcing the evacuation of about 400 homes and businesses in the narrow canyon and about 100 homes in five subdivisions on the rugged north side of Sedona. The fire was 5% contained late Monday afternoon, officials said.

The temperature rose into the upper 90s, with a forecast of very low humidity and winds of 10 to 20 mph.

Flames had edged about 300 feet below the rim of the canyon in spots and were about a half-mile from some homes, said Connie Birkland, a spokeswoman for fire crews. No buildings had been damaged.

Birkland said the estimate of the burned area had been reduced from 3,000 acres to about 1,100 after more precise mapping during the day. Authorities believe the blaze started in a camp used by transients.

Oak Creek Canyon, about 90 miles north of Phoenix between Sedona and Flagstaff, holds scattered homes, hotels, resorts and stores.

“I’m a little apprehensive,” said Sedona Mayor Pud Colquitt, one of the evacuees from Oak Creek Canyon. “It’s a wait-and-see now.”

In neighboring New Mexico, four fires started by lightning had burned almost 24,000 acres in the tinder-dry Gila National Forest in the southwestern part of the state. Two new blazes were reported: Lightning caused the Rivera Mesa fire, which consumed 3,000 acres in Mora County in the northwestern part of the state; and a 300-acre fire east of Alma in Catron County prompted evacuations of homes and campgrounds in the little-populated areas of Willow Creek, Snow Lake, and N-Bar Ranch.

In southern Colorado, another wildfire grew to more than 500 acres Monday, prompting officials to urge evacuation of the 246 homes in two rural subdivisions and close a highway in Costilla County, about 150 miles south of Denver.