TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- Flames from an 11,375-acre wildfire were within a mile of the Mount Hopkins observatories and some summer homes and lodges in Madera Canyon, but fire officials are optimistic that the structures could be saved.
The inhabitants of about 30 summer homes and lodges in the canyon were evacuated Wednesday, primarily as a precaution, after the Florida fire jumped containment lines.
Fire crews wanted the residents out so they can continue building fire lines in the area and because there is only one road out of the canyon, said Bill Watt, a spokesman for the team fighting the fire.
''It's a potentially dangerous situation because there is one road, one exit out,'' Watt said. ''We're not in an emergency situation. We have the opportunity to move these folks out in an orderly and unhurried fashion.''
The fire, started by lightning on July 7, was 20 percent contained Wednesday night as nearly 800 firefighters continued to conducted burnout operations.
Sprinklers have been set up around all 30 structures and will be turned on if the fire gets near enough. Crews have already constructed a thin fuel break one-quarter to one-half mile east of the cabins and lodges in Madera Canyon, a popular hiking, picnicking and bird-watching area.
Firefighting crews have been clearing the areas around seven possibly threatened telescope projects on Mount Hopkins, home of the Smithsonian Institution's Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory.
High temperatures, low humidity, dry vegetation and winds caused the flames to spread rapidly in the last few days.
Crews were just a quarter-mile from completing a containment line on the fire's southern edge Monday, but shifting winds caused the blaze to flare and 200- to 300-foot flames went up early Tuesday.
