Better weather may aid Ariz. firefighters

Favorable weather with reduced winds was expected to aid firefighters battling raging Arizona forest fires charring a land area larger than Rhode Island. "There's no expected weather events the next few days," U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kristy Bryner told The Wall Street Journal. "We have a chance to get on top of it now." The window of better weather will let firefighters use planes and helicopters grounded for days to drop retardant in the fires' most intense parts, officials told The Arizona Republic. The air tankers and helicopters were grounded due to 50 mph winds that fanned the flames. The somewhat improved firefighting outlook came as U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., defended his weekend comments that illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico caused some of the fires. After alleging Saturday there was "substantial evidence" pointing to illegal immigrants and using the opportunity to call for "a secure border" he told the syndicated "Imus in the Morning" radio show Monday he had been "briefed by the Forest Service about the fact that illegal immigrants sometimes start these fires." He also cited a Los Angeles Times report but didn't say what report he meant. McCain spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan clarified McCain wasn't referring to the massive Wallow fire, more than 200 miles from the Mexico border, but rather to fires on the border. Fellow Arizona Republicans U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl and U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar defended McCain's assertions. Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer deployed 90 Arizona National Guard troops Tuesday to one of those border fires, the Monument fire near Sierra Vista, 70 miles southeast of Tucson, to provide security in fire-threatened areas under evacuation. The fire, whipped by heavy wind gusts and bone-dry conditions during the weekend, has damaged or destroyed nearly 80 homes, businesses and other buildings since it began June 12, authorities said. The blaze, which began in the Coronado National Monument and spread northward, was 39 percent contained Tuesday morning after burning more than 40 square miles but causing no reported injuries, the Republic said. The monument, by the Mexican border, confirms the ties that bind the United States and Mexico. Farther north, the Wallow fire, the largest fire in Arizona history, consumed more than 800 square miles as it spread east in Arizona and New Mexico. It was slightly more than 50 percent contained early Tuesday after destroying 32 homes and four rental cabins. A third major wildfire, the Horseshoe 2 Arizona's fifth-largest along the southeastern flank of the Chiricahua Mountains in the southeast of the state, was 80 percent contained after charring more than 330 square miles and destroying 23 structures. Officials say all three blazes are the result of human activity, but no one has been charged and no further details were available. The total number of square miles consumed by three fires so far is more than 1,170 square miles, officials said. Rhode Island's land area is 1,045 square miles.