Summerhaven, Ariz. (AP) _ Crews battling a wildfire that destroyed more than 250 homes in this mountaintop hamlet dug lines to try to protect remaining houses, other residential enclaves and broadcast towers.
The Aspen fire on Mount Lemmon destroyed nine more homes Saturday in a nearby subdivision and swept over a ridge of television and radio towers, fire officials said.
Three broadcast transmission towers also were lost. Officials said structures at the Mount Lemmon Ski Valley suffered no damage.
Crews were looking for an area in the rugged terrain where they could try to stop the fire's spread.
``We're slowly moving from the defensive to the offensive,'' said Larry Humphrey, commander of the team battling the wildfire.
The fire had burned across more than 7,500 acres by Saturday and firefighters fear it will char tens of thousands more before it's stopped. The fire was 5 percent contained.
Firefighters saved most of the roughly 30 homes in the latest subdivision struck by the flames. Smoldering tree stumps still surround the area where firefighters struggled to push back the blaze.
Firefighters cleared vegetation and put in sprinklers to protect the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, which was about a quarter-mile from the fire, said fire spokesman Jerry Engle.
Groups of reporters were escorted Saturday to the scene of devastation.
Coils from burned box springs and metal grates were visible amid the pile of rubble that was the two-story Alpine Lodge.
A stone fireplace climbed 20 feet into the air behind a wrought iron fence that had encircled a two-story home. The fire gutted some buildings on main street, while leaving others untouched.
``I don't have a vocabulary big enough'' to describe the damage, Gov. Janet Napolitano said after viewing Summerhaven from the air.
Nearly 900 firefighters were on the job and the force is expected to grow to as many as 1,000 within a few days.
The blaze was fueled by pine trees ravaged by years of drought and a beetle infestation and driven by wind gusting to 60 mph as it roared through Summerhaven on Thursday. The flames soon spread across the top of 9,157-foot Mount Lemmon and headed down the north slope.
Summerhaven had an estimated 700 homes and cabins and a handful of businesses before the blaze.
It had about 100 year-round residents but its population grew during the summer and weekends as Tucson residents drove up the mountain to escape the desert heat.
