PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. — An Arizona forest fire that shut down youth summer camps, forced thousands from their homes and came dangerously close to consuming a town was 43 percent contained by Thursday evening, authorities said.
About 1,400 evacuated residents of the community of Mayer were allowed to go home earlier in the day and Yavapai County Sheriff Scott Mascher estimated 2,000 other residents of other small communities remained out of their homes.
Campgrounds were also emptied and 1,400 children attending summer camps were bused out as the fire approached.
The fire, which has now burned about 45 square miles, was one of the top firefighting priorities in the U.S. after it rapidly grew while burning through a dense, rugged forest.
More than 800 firefighters were battling the blaze burning in the communities around Prescott, which draws a mix of desert dwellers escaping the heat, retirees and visitors to its famed Old West-themed Whiskey Row lined with bars.
The flames crossed a road a day earlier and approached the town of Dewey-Humboldt, but officials said firefighters saved the community from devastation.
Authorities estimated that the fire burned a handful of homes, but did not have an exact count.
The blaze also forced evacuations for children and campers in a cooler part of Arizona that many head to in the summer to escape the stifling heat.
About 1,400 children had to leave summer camps run by churches and the YMCA among others where children swim, ride horses and participate in outdoor games and activities. Several campgrounds — normally popular sites for the July Fourth weekend — were also forced to close.
Authorities used school buses to transport children from the camps to the small mountain city of Prescott, where they re-connected with their parents, said Yavapai County Supervisor Tom Thurman. No camps burned, but county officials did not want to take risks.
Elsewhere, hundreds of people forced from their homes by a Utah wildfire were expected to return even as the blaze grew.
Fire managers said Thursday that 25 mph wind gusts expanded the wildfire near the ski resort town of Brian Head to more than 91 square miles, though firefighters boosted its containment to 15 percent. The fire was ignited by someone using a weed-burning torch.
