Arizona Fires Continue to Burn

More than 1,300 firefighters from across the nation worked to try to protect several small mountain communities and stop the stubborn wildfire, burning about 250 miles northeast of Phoenix.

"They are making progress halting the advance of the fire," Deryl Jevons, a fire information spokesman, told Reuters. "It's not like we've shut it down. But we've had a better time of it in the last few days."

Weather conditions had been helping firefighting efforts, but there was fear on Sunday that wind speeds would increase and lightning might strike the area, Jevons said.

The so-called Wallow Fire, which broke out a week ago, is now the third-largest in Arizona history. It was at zero percent containment.

Several hundred residents in the small community of Alpine and tiny Nutrioso were forced to flee their homes late on Thursday, and American Red Cross officials said as many as seven residences were destroyed.

There has been no estimate for when these residents would be able to return home.