Wind, Lightning Feed Arizona Fire

The Arizona wildfire continued to rage today, egged on by 60mph winds, lightning, and dry conditions. Residents of the mountain hamlet of Greer were forced to evacuate yesterday, and two more towns were told to be ready to flee, as the fire spread from 184,000 acres to 229,000, the Arizona Republic reports. Some 2,500 firefighters have managed to keep the flames away from some already-evacuated resort towns, but haven't been able to stop the fire's march northward, according to the AP.

The weather settled down a bit last night, but "the bad news is it's supposed to pick back up all the way through Thursday," the commander of the team battling the fire told residents last night. "We've got about three or four days ahead of us right now that are going to try all of us." (More Arizona stories.)