PHOENIX — A wildfire near an Arizona community destroyed at least six homes, prompted overnight evacuations and closed the main highway between Phoenix and Las Vegas before an army of firefighters arrived to quell the flames, a fire official said Thursday. fair.
No injuries were reported after the fire, reported around 4 p.m. Wednesday, spread quickly through vegetation on the Hassayampa River and across U.S. 60, a four-lane highway-style divided highway south of Wickenburg, said Tiffany Davila, Arizona Department of Forestry spokesperson. and Fire Management. An investigation team was looking into the cause of the fire, which Davila said had not been determined.
The highway remained closed, but Davila said evacuation orders for residents were lifted before noon. An aerial survey showed 166 acres (67 hectares) burned.
Davila said cooler nighttime temperatures, increased humidity and the arrival of about 200 local, state and federal firefighters helped contain the blaze, along with aircraft pulling water from a nearby reservoir to dump on the flames.
There was no immediate containment estimate, but Davila said authorities had reduced the number of homes considered threatened from 100 on Wednesday night to about 25 on Thursday.
“As temperatures rise, we could see an increase in fire activity,” she added.
The fire comes as heat warnings remain in effect after several days of record high temperatures across a wide swath of the southwestern United States. The National Weather Service predicts it could be early July, before monsoon rains arrive to alleviate the hot, dry weather.
In Phoenix, 52 miles (83.6 kilometers) southeast of Wickenburg, forecasters on Thursday warned of excessive heat and “dangerously hot” weather through Sunday, with daytime temperatures expected as high as 112 Fahrenheit (44.4 Celsius).
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