National Forest

OGDEN — A court decision in Arizona means the U.S. Forest Service may reduce or eliminate recreation fees in some of its forests, but there are no changes yet in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache, which covers most of the Top of Utah.

GLOBE -- They spent 60 years together and traveled to Africa, China, South America and other parts of the world.

But it was a relatively short drive from the Phoenix area to their home in Albuquerque, N.M., and a fateful decision to take a forest road as a shortcut that separated Dana and Elizabeth Davis.

They became stranded in their Buick and stayed in the car for five nights through two snowstorms, until it ran out of gas and they decided to walk to safety. Elizabeth Davis, 82, collapsed and died, and 86-year-old Dana Davis survived after walking eight miles in the cold and spent a freezing night under a tree before being rescued.

VERNAL -- Rangers are warning visitors to watch out for bears after getting reports of the animals stopping by campsites in northeastern Utah's Ashley National Forest.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Four members of a Colorado Springs family died after their vehicle drove into a washed-out section of a mountain highway in Wyoming and was swept downstream by a raging creek as they fled torrential rains at a national forest campground.

SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. -- For the first time in more than a week, crews made some headway in the fight against a major wildfire in Arizona's eastern mountains that destroyed dozens of buildings and kept thousands of evacuees away from their homes.

Officials said the 603-square-mile blaze was 5 percent contained, after helicopters and a large air tanker dropped fire retardant and ground crews lit blazes to burn up combustible materials nearby. They said among the buildings destroyed so far were 22 homes in the resort community of Greer, and five others were damaged.

SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. — A raging forest fire in eastern Arizona that has forced thousands from their homes headed Wednesday for a pair of transmission lines that supply electricity to hundreds of thousands of people as far east as Texas.

The 607-square-mile blaze is expected to reach the power lines as early as Friday. If the lines are damaged, parts of New Mexico and Texas could face rolling blackouts.

SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. -- Bulldozers scraped away brush and trees on Tuesday to create a barrier between two eastern Arizona mountain towns and a mammoth wildfire. Crews removed brush from around homes and firefighters were sent to protect other buildings from the flames.

All the while, the 7,000 residents of Eagar and Springerville prepared to leave if the second-largest wildfire in state history edges closer.

"If given the word, then I'm gonna go," Eagar resident Gerald McCardle said. "We're already packed. We packed last night, and we're out of here."

Officials say the blaze has already burned 486 square miles and is about 10 miles outside the towns. Winds have been driving the flames 5 to 8 miles a day since the fire began a week ago, possibly from an unattended campfire.