Evacuation notices lifted for some areas threatened by fire

SUPERIOR, Ariz. (AP) — Crews made progress toward containing one of two major wildfires in south-central Arizona’s desert hill country, allowing evacuation notices to be lifted for several rural areas. However, towns elsewhere continued to be threatened.

Areas where evacuations were canceled included the small community of Soda Canyon near San Carlos Lake and San Carlos High School near Peridot, but residents were told to be prepared to evacuate again because of the so-called Mescal fire southeast of Globe, according to an interagency firefighting website.

Meanwhile, evacuation notices and alerts remained in effect for the so-called Telegraph fire near the towns of Superior and Miami.

Between them, the two fires have burned over 215 square miles (558 square kilometers) of brush and grass with 23% containment of the fire southeast of Globe and no containment of the fire near Superior and Miami.

The nearly 1,000 firefighters assigned to the two fires worked to protect communities, power lines and U.S. 60, a major route between metro Phoenix and eastern Arizona that was closed between Superior and Miami.

Both fires’ causes were under investigation.

In northern Arizona, part of U.S. 180 northwest of Flagstaff remained closed Tuesday due a wildfire that started Monday. Winds were pushing it away from Flagstaff, officials said.