Shocking images emerge of wildfire torching Arizona

Drought and winds bring ‘no relief’ for residents witnessing devastating start to fire season

Footage of an Arizona wildfire (IIS/ABC15 Arizona)

Hundreds of peopled have been forced to evacuate their homes as wildfires have tore through tens of thousands of acres in Arizona in recent days.

Footage and images of swathes of Arizona on fire continue to emerge after the blazes tore through almost 90,000 acres as of Monday, according to analysis by The New York Times.

Roughly 41,000 acres have burned in the Telegraph fire, which approached the town of Top-of-the-World, about 70 miles east of Phoenix, after it began on Friday.

A second blaze, known as the Mescal fire, started burning on Thursday last week — amid high winds and dry conditions. It has so far burned roughly 50,000 acres.

In Miami Mine, a town almost 30km north west of the Mescal fire, an Instagram user wrote that she was praying for her town.

A blazing red sky can be seen in an image shared to Instagram on Monday morning, amid an ongoing evacuation of residents in Miami Mine.

Smoke from the Telegraph fire was seen as far away as Texas by the US National Weather Service office in El Paso on Sunday night.

It shared an image of whips of of smoke in the sky above the Gila region, in north western Texas, on the border with Arizona.

Arizona resident Aaron Kluth shared also shared an image from the San Tan Valley, with fires visibly burning in the background on Friday.

It was thought to have been the Telegraph fire, burning 20km to the east.

On Instagram, another Arizona resident, Zach Melendez, shared further images of the Telegraph fire, which was visible from across the San Tan Valley.

“These shots were taken at 10pm last night,” a caption on the images read. “The mountains are lit up from the glow of the smoke and flames.”

Brian Snider, an Arizona resident, shared images of both fires as seen from the town of Superior on Sunday. It is roughly 7km north of the Telegraph fire, and also nearby to the Mescal fire.

Officials in Arizona warn that “there is no significant relief in the forecast,” with temperatures reaching as high as 97F (30.5C) in recent days.

Combined with high winds, the conditions are expected to bring further fires in the summer, with the traditional fire season only recently beginning.