A huge fire that has destroyed thousands of hectares of forest land in Arizona was threatening to cross into neighbouring New Mexico on Wednesday, authorities said.
Thousands of firefighters were battling the blaze, dubbed the Wallow Fire, the second biggest in the history of Arizona.
The inferno, fuelled by high winds and low humidity, has raged out of control, consuming nearly 157 000 hectares of land, prompting about 3 000 people to evacuate.
The US National Weather Service on Wednesday issued its most severe “red flag” warning for the area, while thousands of firefighters were hoping to slow the inferno’s advance by creating a protective “fire line” of already burned-out vegetation in its path.
Firefighters said the manmade blaze, which began on Saturday, was burning largely out of control and hundreds of dwellings remained at risk of being consumed in the fire.
On Tuesday evening, authorities also ordered the evacuations of the town of Eagar, which has a population of 4 500.
Another round of evacuations affected the mountain community of Wallow, Arizona, about 300km northeast of Phoenix near the New Mexico border.
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Monday signed a declaration of emergency in response to the wildfires, releasing $200 000 from an emergency response fund.
A huge smoke cloud from the fire meanwhile was billowing over the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest about 300km northeast of Phoenix, near the Arizona-New Mexico border. — Sapa-AFP