* New Mexico blazes burn a dozen homes
* Evacuees allowed home in Arizona
* Lightning sparks fires in Michigan, Utah
(Recasts with details from five additional states)
By Zelie Pollon
SANTA FE, N.M., May 25 (Reuters) – Crews battled to contain
a massive New Mexico wildfire on Friday that torched a dozen
homes, the largest of several blazes that have consumed more
than 200 square miles (520 square km) of rugged land in
half-a-dozen U.S. states in recent days.
Wildfires in sparsely-populated stretches of Arizona,
Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have forced the
evacuation of several small towns and torched miles of forest,
brush and grass since mid-month.
The fires have taken hold in tinder-dry late-spring
conditions in mostly remote tracts of the United States, and
have been fanned by gusting winds.
Crews fought a huge blaze in the Gila National Forest near
the New Mexico-Arizona border, which had charred nearly 130
square miles (337 square kilometres) by early Friday, with none
of it contained, said Public Information Officer Iris Estes.
Estes said firefighters were able to build fire lines toward
the north of the blaze – which sent billowing columns of
gray-brown smoke high into the air – and expected wind gusts of
nearly 30 miles per hour (48 kph) to move the flames in that
direction by midday.
Efforts overnight preserved the more than 45 remaining
vacation homes in the area. A total of twelve homes and 13
outlying buildings have been destroyed so far, Estes said.
“The fire is still burning in the subdivision, but they did
a good job of getting in there and getting some structure
protection in there,” Estes said.
Estes said the fire “spread out and moved in all directions”
as it burned late Thursday, which allowed firefighters to get
closer to the blaze and build fire lines with bulldozers.
More than 500 people are fighting the blaze. Voluntary
evacuations were in effect for the nearby town of Mogollon.
In neighboring Arizona, nearly 1,000 firefighters using
aircraft and hand tools made strides toward containing the Grand
Canyon state’s largest and most dangerous blaze, the so-called
Gladiator Fire.
That fire, which has torched more than 25 square miles (65
square km) of ponderosa pine and brush about 40 miles (64 km)
north of Phoenix, reached 35-percent containment on Friday. The
progress allowed the local sheriff’s office to start letting
some residents return to three small communities for the first
time in 13 days.
LIGHTNING SPARKS MICHIGAN, UTAH BLAZES
Across the country in Michigan, two wildfires sparked by
lightning strikes burned in forests and marshes of the sparsely
populated Northern Peninsula, which is stuck in an extended dry
spell, authorities said.
The larger of the two, the Duck Lake Fire has burned about
17,000 acres (6,900 hectares) to the Lake Superior coastline.
The blaze has consumed dozens of structures, including vacation
homes, and forced some evacuations of campers, but caused no
injuries, said Ed Golder of the Michigan Department of Natural
Resources.
There was no containment, as gusty winds had shifted to
westerly breezes, threatening the Pike Lake area where there is
a resort.
Another fire has blackened 3,000 acres (1,210 hectares) of
the Seney National Wildlife Refuge, but has threatened no
structures and is 65 percent contained, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Agency spokeswoman Jennifer Hoyland said at the refuge. Planes
and helicopters were dumping water on the fire, and ground crews
had dug a fire line.
The Seney reserve covers nearly 100,000 acres (40,500
hectares), and the fire has burned forest and wetlands.
Authorities have asked that people avoid any open fires, because
conditions are very dry in the peninsula.
In northern Nevada, meanwhile, lighter winds and higher
humidity helped crews’ efforts to curb the Topaz Ranch Estates
wildfire that has razed more than 11 square miles (30 square km)
of brush south of Carson City, charring two homes and 17
outbuildings.
Crews battling the 28-square-mile (72.5-square-km) Sunflower
Fire, in Arizona, had succeeded in reinforcing control lines and
it was more than 40 percent under control.
Utah firefighters battled a 3,600-acre (1,460-hectare)
wildfire at the tip of a peninsula that juts into the Great Salt
Lake. The blaze, believed to have been started by lightning,
threatened a few structures.
(Writing by Tim Gaynor; Additional reporting by Andrew Stern in
Chicago, Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City and David Schwartz in
Phoenix; Editing by Greg McCune and Vicki Allen)
