Hundreds evacuated as wildfire rages near Arizona town

Yarnell resident Vanessa Purdy said she noticed smoke from the fire about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday and then received a voluntary evacuation notice on her cellphone. Fire officials are making progress extinguishing it, and have it about 10 percent contained, according to an update on Thursday morning.

Overnight mapping has determined the fire is now roughly 5 square miles. No homes were reported destroyed but the fire burned three structures such as sheds.

That brought the total number of evacuees to near 300 in the area, but authorities remained confident the fire would not grow out of control and containment could still happen by sometime early next week.

The Tenderfoot Fire prompted Yavapai County Sheriff’s officials Wednesday to evacuate between 250 and 300 residents from the town of Yarnell.

A seven-mile stretch of State Route 89 through Yarnell was shut down because of the fire.

Sinclair said the fire behavior would be a factor in the decision, but also whether electricity and other services had been restored.

Fire officials say residents on the west side of Yarnell are being allowed to return home Friday night.

How the fire started isn’t known but Williams said a human cause is suspected.

Yarnell resident Peggy Starcher left her home with her two dogs but wasn’t quite sure why she was being evacuated.

The raging inferno comes almost three years to the day from when a blaze engulfed the same area, ending in the deaths of 19 firefighters.

People in Yarnell were asked to leave their homes Wednesday, and Thursday some residents of nearby Peeples Valley had to evacuate.

About 240 personnel, including six firefighter crews, were assigned to the blaze.

Authorities said the fire appeared to be moving up mountain slopes to the northeast of Yarnell and away from the town, but its western flank still was threatened.

There have been no reports of injuries or deaths so far. Her vehicle is packed just in case.

Authorities have already opened a shelter on the campus of Yavapai College, where as many as 200 people were expected to spend the night.

Helicopters were dipping in small ponds in the area Thursday, filling up with water and dumping it on the flames along the ridge tops.