Massive flames force evacuation of hundreds of Arizona homes

By FELICIA FONSECA
Associated Press

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Winds kicked up a towering wall of flames in rural northern Arizona on Tuesday, tearing through two-dozen structures and forcing the evacuation of more than 700 homes. Coconino County Sheriff Jim Driscoll said during a news conference that the county declared an emergency Tuesday as the fast-moving wildfire outside of Flagstaff ballooned to over 9 square miles. Forest Service officials say flame lengths are as high as 100 feet. County officials said 766 homes and 1,000 animals have been evacuated. A couple of hundred homes are still threatened as smoke billowed into the air in an all-too-familiar scene. Elsewhere in Arizona, firefighters battled a wildfire in a sparsely populated area of the Prescott National Forest south of Prescott.