A wildfire driven by gusty winds has erupted in western Arizona on Wednesday and jumped the Colorado River into California, prompting the evacuation of a resort and RV parks before the flames began to ease, authorities said.
The fire, has burnt more than 1,400 acres of salt cedars, mesquite and river-bottom vegetation, but only 5 percent was contained by nightfall, the progress looked good, said Mike Reichling of the federal Bureau of Land Management. “It’s laying down,” he said of the blaze.“The temperature’s dropping, humidity’s coming up a bit.”
Tye James, a waitress at Double Ds Roadhouse in Topock, Arizona, said she saw a wall of flames as she drove to work. “There’s just a lot of black smoke going up from around the river,” she said.
More than 100 people were evacuated from Pirate’s Cove, a pirate-themed family resort and RV parks in the Mojave Desert south of Needles, California, Reichling said.
The cause of the fire was not known, but investigators were considering it suspicious, said Fire Chief Ted Martin of the Mohave Valley Fire District in Arizona.
By Premji
