Mandatory Evacuations as Fire Threatens Homes in Arizona

Wildfire season has begun, and already residents of Mayer, Ariz., a central Arizona subdivision have been ordered to evacuate as a brush fire threatened their homes, authorities said.

The blaze was started by lightning early Wednesday and had spread to about 200 acres by late morning, officials said.

The U.S. Forest Service ordered all residents out of the Pine Flats area south of Mayer as the blaze moved into the community of about 20 homes. An evacuation center was set up at a school in nearby Dewey-Humboldt, said Susan Quayle, a spokeswoman for the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office.

Mayer is about 75 miles north of Phoenix on the edge of the Bradshaw Mountains.