Firefighters battling the Assayii Lake fire near the Arizona-New Mexico border say they’re close to having the blaze fully contained and have lifted evacuation orders in the fire area.
Arlene Perea, a fire spokesman, says the fire is about 65 percent contained Monday morning.
“There’s some areas where they’re still working on some lines,” Perea said. “Some of it is reinforcement and, and others is going ahead and putting some new line in but, you know, we’re getting closer to a mop-up stage.”
Perea says gusty winds over the weekend tested the fire lines but they held up well and firefighters were able to continue building on those lines.
The blaze has charred 14,712 acres. About 550 fire personnel are working to fully contain the human-caused fire.