http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110620/ts_nm/us_wildfires_southwest?bouchon=623,txWinds pose problems in fight against Southwest firesBy David Schwartz David Schwartz – Mon Jun 20, 12:31 am ET
PHOENIX (Reuters) – High winds posed a tough challenge to firefighters battling wildfires on Sunday in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, where powerful gusts helped the blazes spread quickly.
Fires in east Texas were scorching thousands of acres, while in southern Arizona the winds powered flames across containment lines set up by firefighters, authorities said.
In Texas, the fast-moving Dyer Mill Fire destroyed 30 homes about 80 miles northwest of Houston and scorched 3,600 acres, said Rae Brooks, a spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service.
Another blaze, the Bearing fire that authorities say is one of the largest in east Texas history, was burning through about 14,000 acres on Sunday.
The Bearing Fire, which started on Friday, was 40 percent contained, said Richard Reuse of the Texas Forest Service.
In central Texas, seven mobile homes were lost to the Green Cedar Fire in Kendall County, officials said.
The Monument Fire, burning near the Mexican border a few miles south of Sierra Vista, Arizona, spread due to high winds, authorities said.
"The winds were pretty intense, and they did push the fire over our containment lines," said Jamie Geesling, a spokeswoman for the state's Joint Information Center.
The fire jumped containment lines in Hereford, where 50-mile-an-hour winds tore through the area, she said.
The Monument Fire has destroyed more than 40 homes since it began a week ago, Geesling said. It has forced some 7,000 people from their homes.
The National Weather Service had warned that wind gusts could reach as much as 60 miles an hour in several states in the Southwest.
"This is the highest the winds have been since the fire started," said Terry Stemmler, a fire task force spokesman.
The Wallow Fire in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico remained the largest conflagration in the region. It began on May 29.
It has destroyed 32 homes and charred a record 511,000 acres, or about 800 square miles.
Near Santa Fe, New Mexico, a wildfire grew to more than 900 acres on Sunday from 5 acres the day before, and firefighters were unable to build any lines of containment, said Alberta Maez, spokeswoman at the Pacheco Canyon Fire Information Center.
Gusts of up to 50 miles per hour hit the area, but the winds were blowing the flames away from Santa Fe.
(Additional reporting by Karen Brooks in Austin and Zelie Pollon in Santa Fe: Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Ellen Wulfhorst)
