Florida firefighters built containment lines Thursday to protect nearby homes, despite getting some help Wednesday evening from about four-tenths of an inch of rain.
``Only several inches of widespread rain is going to put that fire out,'' said Gene Madden, a Florida Division of Forestry spokesman.
The 4,050-acre fire was not contained and inched as close as ``a few hundred yards'' to some homes, Madden said. There were no reports of injuries or property damage.
The rain did dampen flames enough to allow about 500 people to return to their homes on the swamp's perimeter, hours after they were evacuated Wednesday.
``It's going to be smoky here for days,'' said Nelson Green, director of the Bradford County Department of Emergency Services.
There was a 40 to 50 percent chance of rain Thursday at the site near Hampton, about 50 miles southwest of Jacksonville.
Fire officials considered the forecast a mixed blessing. Rain would help extinguish the flames, but lightning could easily start more wildfires in what a state forestry spokesman described as a ``bone-dry'' swamp.
In another north Florida blaze, more than 100 firefighters in the remote John Bethea State Forest, near the Georgia line, gained ground on a blaze covering nearly 3,000 acres. The fire was 85 percent contained with the help of additional rain Wednesday.
The New Mexico fire had burned about 38,000 acres near Capitan, in the south-central part of the state, and was 30 percent contained as of Thursday morning.
The lightning-sparked fire, reported May 15, initially crept along the ground before exploding May 23. It has been 45 percent contained before it jumped the containment lines Tuesday.
The fire has destroyed a dozen cabins in Lincoln National Forest that are on land leased by private citizens.
At an information meeting Wednesday night with fire officials, some Capitan area residents and cabin owners said the U.S. Forest Service's effort to fight the blaze fell short before it suddenly tripled in size May 23.
``It was done and over with. No homes would have been lost. Who dropped the ball and why?'' Corina Sedillo asked during the meeting attended by about 100 people.
Forest Ranger Buck Sanchez said the area was too rough and hazardous to safely deploy firefighters.
Don Hudson, who lost a cabin in the fire, said he's heard ``nothing but lies'' from the Forest Service.
Many cabin owners allege they were told the cabins were being protected by engines and sprayed with a fire retardant foam.
Gov. Bill Richardson, in a news conference in Santa Fe Wednesday, said the fire jumping its containment lines was ``another example of the dangerous and unpredictable nature of wildfires.''
``There are no 'safe' wildfires,'' he said. ``That is why I have always advocated, and will continue to support, a policy of immediate and massive response to kill wildfires before they spread.''
Fire information officer Beth Wilson said Wednesday that the fire was not threatening any other structures, but crews were monitoring the situation because ``some could be threatened if the fire goes a certain way.''
