Arizona Wildfire Threatens Homes, Cabins, Causes Evacuations

Two fast-moving, lightning-caused brush fires moved within about a mile of merging Wednesday in the Tonto National Forest, the flames from one forcing the evacuation of an estimated 200 to 400 homes, spokesmen said.

June 22, 2005

CAREFREE, Ariz. (AP) -- Two fast-moving, lightning-caused brush fires moved within about a mile of merging Wednesday in the Tonto National Forest, the flames from one forcing the evacuation of an estimated 200 to 400 homes, spokesmen said.

Winds moving from the south-southeast pushed flames from one of the fires making up the 2,000-acre Cave Creek Complex fire to the Tonto Hills subdivision, about 20 miles northeast of Phoenix, said Jim Payne, a regional Forest Service spokesman.

''The areas we're concerned about are to the east. And that includes the Tonto Hills subdivision. The fire has reached the top of a ridge. Aircraft are putting slurry there to keep the fire from backing down (the hill),'' he said.

He said the fire was about 1