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The blaze, dubbed the Tunnel Fire, swept northeast over largely
unpopulated hills and valleys 14 miles (23 km) north of
Flagstaff, Arizona, according to a U.S. Forest Service
statement.
Flames burned 16,625 acres, an area larger than Manhattan,
moving through the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument which
has a visitor center and hiking trails, the release said.
Driven by traditional gusty spring winds, the blaze forced more
than 2,000 residents from their homes, the Coconino county Board
of Supervisors said.
At least 25 structures were burned after the fire moved through
parts of the Wupatki Trails and Timberline Estates communities,
which are built in pine forest, the county sheriff's office
said.
The area is part of a swathe of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and
Colorado caught in more than two decades of largely unrelenting
drought after average temperatures in the area rose about 1.4
degrees Fahrenheit in the past century, according to data from
the Desert Research Institute and National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.
Around 360 miles to the east, an elderly couple died in their in
Ruidoso, New Mexico, home last week when a wildfire destroyed
hundreds of houses and forced thousands to flee the mountain
town.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago and Andrew Hay in Taos,
New Mexico; Editing by Gareth Jones, Nick Macfie and Aurora
Ellis)
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