Calmer weather eases intensity of fire in Arizona

Calmer weather eased the intensity of a brush fire near Yarnell, an Arizona community where a 2013 blaze killed 19 members of an elite firefighting crew, officials said Thursday.

The fire burned about 2 square miles of brush and grass and light winds of 5 to 10 mph Thursday were blowing it away from Yarnell, said Dolores Garcia, a Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman.

Firefighters have a perimeter around 10 percent of the fire and the weather forecast calls for favorable conditions over the next several days, said RobRoy Williams, the incident commander.

Calm winds and cooler conditions with higher humidity overnight helped slow the fire, allowing firefighters to get some rest, Garcia said.

The 19 firefighters killed in June 2013 were members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots trapped by flames in a canyon — the deadliest U.S. tragedy for wildland firefighters in several decades.

Officials said brush clearing and other preventative work done in the community since the 2013 fire helped firefighters keep the latest fire out of the town by connecting areas already cleared of brush with new fire lines and burnout areas.