A brush fire burns in Yarnell, Ariz., Wednesday, June 8, 2016.
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Original reports suggested the Tenderfoot fire would be small, about two acres, but high winds swept it into high gear, and it begun burning as much as 600 acres worth of grass and brush, dried by an early-June heat wave around the state, Scott Orr reported for the Prescott Daily Courier.
A brush fire threatened structures Wednesday in the north-central Arizona town of Yarnell – the scene of a 2013 wildfire in which 19 members of an elite firefighting crew were killed.
A wildfire forced hundreds of people to evacuate their homes in the north central Arizona town of Yarnell on Wednesday.
Yavapai County sheriff’s spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn said no injuries have been reported.
Up to 300 people had fled their homes near the town of Yarnell, the Bureau of Land Management’s Dolores Garcia said Wednesday night.
Garcia said that three structures have burned down but no homes have been affected.
It said some 85 personnel are battling the blaze, using both air and ground resources.
It was caused by a lightning strike, and eventually destroyed 130 homes after growing to 13 square miles.
It’s coming across the east line of Yarnell, burning across the edge of those houses. “I’m halfway down the mountain with the dog”.
The paper said the Flormans hoped that this fire would be extinguished quickly and be nowhere as devastating.
Yavapai College is serving as an evacuation center for those affected.
A 20-member U.S. Forest Service crew is on the scene along with aircraft.
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The fire, authorities said, seemed to be moving up the mountain slopes and away from the town.
