Wildfires prompted more people to evacuate. Dry and windy wildfires caused wildfires to spread.

Wildfires prompted more people to evacuate. Dry and windy wildfires caused wildfires to spread (Alberta Times). Affected by strong winds and dry weather, a forest fire in Crown Township caused more people to evacuate on Sunday...

Wildfires prompted more people to evacuate. Dry and windy wildfires caused wildfires to spread (Alberta Times). A bushfire in Crown Township forced more people to leave their homes on Sunday due to high winds and dry conditions. Firefighters are nearing the end of their battle with the largest of the state's four blazes. Recent wildfires in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado have forced residents of several small towns to evacuate their homes and reduced more than 65 square miles of forests, shrubs and grasslands in the Southwest to ashes. This is the first large-scale forest fire this year. In 2011, the state experienced an unprecedented wildfire season, with nearly 2,000 fires burning over 1,500 square miles. Firefighters' biggest concern is the so-called Gladiator Fire, which will return to dry and windy weather on Sunday after a lull in winds on Saturday and will continue to do so in the coming days. "We are expecting more intense fires today, fueled by dryness and dangerous conditions," Fidler, a fire department spokeswoman, said Sunday. "More people may be evacuated." The Gladiator Fire, named after an old local mine, has destroyed four structures and forced about 350 residents of the town of Crown King to evacuate their homes earlier this week. Residents of three other small remote communities were evacuated on Friday because of the fire. Currently, the fire, which is 10% contained, has burned at least 20 square miles. In addition, the Sunflower Fire, the largest of the four fires, has almost been extinguished, and various firefighting resources there are being gradually transferred to other places, said Hines, a spokeswoman for the agency responsible for fighting the fire.