Officials were pessimistic that the weather would help.
With high winds and low humidity expected for several days, ``there's not a thing happening that's on our side,'' said Larry Humphrey, who is leading the team fighting the fire.
Firefighters were laying water lines and digging lines around homes spared by the fire's rampage into the town Thursday, information officer Marylee Peterson said.
Driven by winds up to 60 mph, the fire roared across Mount Lemmon in less than an hour Thursday, destroying some homes while sparing others.
Humphrey said firefighters managed to save about 60 homes, though other pockets of homes could eventually be threatened. He said it could take two to three weeks to contain the fire, which had grown to around 3,200 acres.
The fire started Tuesday and forced the evacuation of Summerhaven, a community with hundreds of vacation homes and about 100 year-round residents.
``I'm looking at signs that look like Salvador Dali put them there,'' Pima County Supervisor Ray Carroll said, 'referring to the surrealist painter whose images included melting clocks.
The Alpine Lodge burned to the ground, Carroll said. The post office and a coffee house burned, and almost every other building on the town's main road was damaged.
Firefighters had hoped to protect the homes on the mountain north of Tucson by making a stand along a trail about a mile away, but had to pull back when the intense blaze crossed the path.
``All it took was one spot across the line and we were off to the races,'' he said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Humphrey said crews had planned to fight structure fires through the night. They were hampered by exploding propane tanks and downed power lines, he said.
One firefighter was taken to a hospital for treatment, said Jim Payne, spokesman for the fire's incident management team. The exact injury was unknown.
The blaze consumed pine trees ravaged by years of drought and an infestation of tree-killing bark beetles. It is one of several wildfires in Arizona, where fire officials are braced for another busy year after seeing 630,000 acres burned in 2002.
Summerhaven has an estimated 700 homes and cabins and a handful of businesses. Its population swells during weekends and summers as visitors drive up the Catalina Highway, the sole paved road winding its way up the 9,157-foot Mount Lemmon, to escape the desert heat.
Some residents cried, others hugged when they heard about the damage during a briefing for evacuees and owners of second homes in the community.
``At this point, I'm very calm at times,'' said Judy Epstein, a Summerhaven resident for six years. ``I have waves in which I visualize the worst.''
Gov. Janet Napolitano declared a state of emergency to free up money for firefighting efforts. She said she plans to seek a similar declaration from the federal government.
