TOWOAC, Colo. (AP) -- Fire crews battled two blazes near Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado on Wednesday and braced for the possibility that thunderstorms could start new blazes.
Temperatures in the high 90s were forecast, along with lightning-producing storms.
Fire information officer Jen Chase said trees were so dry that the probability of lightning starting a fire was 100 percent, and any new fires were likely to spread quickly.
A 193-acre, lightning-caused fire on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian reservation was 40 percent contained, and a second blaze on the reservation covering 2,318 acres was 75 percent contained.
Crews used tactics to avoid damaging fragile archaeological sites and artifacts, dropping retardant from the air.
Archaeological treasures on the reservation rival those at Mesa Verde, said Tom Rice, the tribe's resource adviser. They include cliff dwellings, petroglyphs, stone tools and pottery.
In southern Arizona, a 22,500-acre fire was about 70 percent contained, thanks to burnouts and heavy rain, lessening the threat to about 30 homes and cabins and wildlife habitat in Madera Canyon.
An inch of rain that fell Monday ''was really helpful in terms of the fire,'' said Jennifer Plyler, a spokeswoman for the team fighting the lightning-caused fire.
The Arizona fire was 60 percent contained Tuesday and full containment was expected by next week, said Bill Duemling, a spokesman for the firefighting team.
The National Interagency Fire Center said 36 large fires were active Wednesday in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. Nearly 3.9 million acres of land has been burned so far this year, compared with 4.4 million at this time last year.
