A helicopter dumps water on Wilson Mountain as fire crews battle the Brins Fire during its spread to within 200 yards of Highway 89A in Sedona. Fire crews, wary of the fire's chances of jumping the highway, cut fuel and power, positioned sprinklers by businesses and were prepared to burn out the area between the highway and the fire line.

David Sanders

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Black plumes rocketed into the sky from the top of Wilson Mountain north of Sedona like ugly fireworks Tuesday afternoon, a sign of the potential the 1,770-acre Brins Fire still holds.

Fire crews raced to cut fuel on the west side of Arizona 89A north of Sedona and south of Slide Rock State Park on Tuesday afternoon as the fire moved within 200 yards of the twisting Oak Creek Canyon road, said U.S. Forest Service public information officer Eric Neitzel.

He said crews were prepared to light a fire to burn out the area between the road and the fire line if the front line of the fire threatened to gain momentum and jump the highway. Forest Service officials were more concerned about the fire's progress toward the highway — and the expensive homes and nearby businesses — than the dried plant life on the sides and top of the mountain.

The terrain was just too steep to put ground crews on the rugged mountain ridge that looms west of downtown Sedona, said Neitzel.

He said crews were setting up sprinklers around businesses on the edge of the highway, including an old Dairy Queen that is a local landmark and a favorite of visitors to Slide Rock, the popular swimming hole in Oak Creek Canyon.

The Brins Fire was upgraded from a Type 2 to a Type 1 Incident Command structure Tuesday evening. The change does not necessarily indicate a more dire situation, but makes more human and mechanical resources available, said David Eaker, an information officer for the incoming Type 1 Incident Command.

Eaker said he didn't expect a major change in operations.

He said there were already 13 aircraft — both airplanes and helicopters — assigned to the fire. The air power included small and large helicopters — including at least two giant Sky Cranes — small spotter planes and large multi-engine slurry bombers.

Eaker said Type 1 workers tend to have more experience than Type 2 crews. He said there were already two other Type 1 fires working in the Southwest, one near the Utah-Arizona border and another near Gila, N.M., but he said there are adequate resources available to handle the Brins Fire.

Residents and workers at businesses in Oak Creek Canyon north of Sedona had already been advised to leave, but when winds kicked up and flames moved within 200 yards of the west side of 89A at midafternoon Tuesday, emergency authorities set off sirens in the canyon advising people remaining to leave.

The fire, which officials believe began Sunday at a transient camp, forced the evacuation of about 400 homes and businesses in narrow Oak Creek Canyon and about 100 homes in the smaller canyons on the rugged north side of Sedona, a town about 90 miles north of Phoenix surrounded by red-hued cliffs that draw builders of expensive homes and thousands of tourists.

More than 450 firefighters were on the ground, and crews were installing sprinklers and clearing brush around the homes in an effort to protect them, said Joe Reinarz, commander of the team fighting the fire. No buildings had been lost as of Tuesday.

If the fire burns down to the two-lane scenic highway along the canyon bottom, which it was nearing, crews hope to make a stand there. Most homes are on the opposite side of the highway, Reinarz said.

A high temperature of about 100 was forecast Tuesday for Sedona, with very low humidity and wind of 10 to 20 mph, said fire information officer Brian Morris.

Neitzel said he visited the firefighting lines and that the Brins Fire's terrain made work not only physically demanding, but dangerous. He said the many small canyons on the back side of Wilson Mountain channeled gusting winds, causing eddy wind currents that kept crews on their toes. High temperatures added to the stress for crews working the fire.

Power to Oak Creek Canyon homes and businesses north of Sedona was cut Tuesday to protect firefighters, who might be endangered if flames brought down power poles and live lines, Neitzel said.

Several large fires are burning in Arizona, New Mexico and throughout the Southwest. Wildfires have charred more than 3.1 million acres nationwide so far this year, well ahead of the average of about 900,000 acres by this time, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. Huge grass fires that swept Texas and Oklahoma this spring account for much of the increase.