At a Glance
- Evacuations expanded to 700 homes east of Phoenix because of a large wildfire.
- Firefighters have struggled to corral the Woodbury Fire because of gusty winds, heat and low humidity.
- The fire is burning in the Tonto National Forest but is about seven miles from homes.
Officials have expanded the evacuation homes east of Phoenix to 700 because of an aggressive wildfire.
The so-called Woodbury Fire has claimed more than 124 square miles of land in the Tonto National Forest and was 34 percent contained as of Saturday morning.
"Winds aren't going to help the fire fight through the weekend," said senior weather.com meteorologist Jonathan Erdman. "Southwest winds of 10-15 mph with occasional gusts over 20 mph are expected through Sunday, strongest on mountaintops."
The fire has become the seventh largest in Arizona's history. The largest was the Willow Fire, which scorched more than 815 square miles in 2011.
(MORE: California Should Prepare for Another Bad Fire Season, Government Outlook Says)
Gila County spokesman Josh Beck said Friday evening that those evacuations occurred stretching south from Roosevelt Lake in the Tonto National Forest.
Several roads were closed, including Arizona highways 88 and 188.
A shelter for residents and small pets has been set up at Lee Kornegay School in the Gila County town of Miami. Livestock can be taken to the Gila County Fairground in Globe.
The wildfire made a major run through a canyon in the pre-dawn hours Thursday, driving up the size.
Firefighters are focused on the north and northwest corner of the fire that is within a mile of a school of natural healing and about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the nearest copper mine. Firefighters burned a ring around the school to better protect it and reinforced existing barriers around a handful of mine sites, fire information officer Christa Sadler said.
A campground east of the dam that holds back the lake is closed, along with some roads and the Tonto National Monument that's home to two 700-year-old cliff dwellings. Sadler said firefighters were working to wrap the original wood components of the dwellings with a fire-resistant material.
The fire is burning in what's typically the driest time of the year before the onset of heavy rain during the monsoon season. The amount of precipitation over the winter and spring otherwise has been above-normal in most areas.
The Tonto National Forest was the first agency in Arizona to implement fire restrictions that limit campfires and smoking to developed areas earlier this month because of the wildfire. Others are following suit.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Colorado River District in western Arizona will be under the first stage of fire restrictions starting Friday. The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management restrictions also start Friday and cover land in Gila, La Paz, Maricopa and Yuma counties, and Mohave County south of the Colorado River.
