Troops Join Fight Against Wildfire

National Guard troops joined more than 800 firefighters battling a blaze that had burned 57,000 acres of desert scrubland by Thursday.

Meanwhile, about 320 people with 23 engines, six helicopters and three air tankers kept another wildfire a half-mile away from an observatory partly owned by the University of Arizona on Mount Graham in the Coronado National Forest.

Elsewhere in the Southwest, where hot, dry weather and high winds have increased the danger of wildfires in recent weeks, major blazes neared containment in New Mexico and California.

Arizona Gov. Fife Symington announced a state of emergency Thursday, mobilizing 40 National Guard troops to assist federal firefighting crews.

The fire in the Tonto National Forest was about 40 percent contained Thursday

In New Mexico, more than 16,000 acres at the Bandelier National Monument burned before firefighters got the blaze 75 percent contained Thursday.

In California, a wildfire scorched nearly 11,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest near Fillmore.