SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Air tankers and helicopters helped douse flames from the sky as nearly 200 firefighters on the ground battled a wildfire northeast of Phoenix on Friday that threatened scores of homes and forced dozens of residents to evacuate.
Authorities expanded the evacuation area in a subdivision on the northeast outskirts of Scottsdale, closed roads and shut down part of a nature preserve as gusty winds continued to fan the flames in extremely hot, dry conditions.
But there were no immediate reports of any injuries or structure damage, Arizona fire officials said.
Near Phoenix, where the high reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius) on Friday, about 60 residents evacuated homes in the Boulder Heights subdivision overnight after the human-caused fire broke out at about 2:30 p.m. Thursday.
Fire officials said they were investigating exactly what sparked the blaze about 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of Carefree, just outside northern Scottsdale on the edge of the Tonto National Forest.
Dubbed the Boulder View Fire, it has burned about 5 square miles (13 square kilometers) with zero containment, authorities said.
“The southeast side of the fire remained active throughout the night producing 20-40 foot flame lengths in areas,” Tiffany Davila, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, said in a statement.
“Additional resources were redirected to that side of the fire last night to begin structure protection and help crews start firing operations to tie the fire into nearby roads," she said.
The Red Cross set up an evacuation center at a high school in Scottsdale, and shelters for horses and other large animals were established at several locations, including the rodeo grounds at nearby Cave Creek.
Scottsdale officials closed part of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve as a precaution but said there was no immediate threat. The air tankers armed with red retardant and helicopters hauling giant buckets of water helped ground crews keep the flames away from power lines in the area so far, fire officials said.
The National Weather Service said above-normal temperatures will persist well into next week, with many lower desert locations seeing highs near or exceeding 110 degrees F (43.3 C) each afternoon.
Meanwhile in central Oregon, fire officials were releasing some crews from the lines south of Bend because conditions have improved and the threat posed by a wildfire to the community around La Pine has decreased after hundreds were evacuated earlier this week.
Firefighters said Friday they had dug fire lines around nearly half of the Darlene 3 fire, near La Pine, which has now burned an estimated 6 square miles (15.5 square kilometers) and was listed at 42% containment.
And in Central California, about 200 firefighters also were making progress on a large blaze that has burned an estimated 9 square miles (23.3 square kilometers) about 60 miles (97 km) east of Fresno. It was the only one still burning of 18 fires that were sparked by lightning along the western edge of the Sierra Nevada when a storm moved through this week, officials said.
This aerial photo released by the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management shows smoke rising from the Boulder View fire Thursday, June 27, 2024, near Phoenix. Air tankers and helicopters have joined nearly 200 firefighters battling a wildfire northeast of Phoenix that has forced dozens of residents to flee their homes. (Bobby Ortland/Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management via AP)
This photo released by the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management shows smoke rising from the Boulder View fire Thursday, June 27, 2024, near Phoenix. Air tankers and helicopters have joined nearly 200 firefighters battling a wildfire northeast of Phoenix that has forced dozens of residents to flee their homes. (Tiffany Davila/Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management via AP)
PARIS (AP) — France's National Rally surged into the lead in the first round of legislative elections, according to results released early Monday, bringing the far-right party to the brink of power and dealing a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron’s centrists in an election that could set the country, and Europe, on a starkly different course.
The results confirmed polling that showed the party — with a history of racism and xenophobia and once shunned by the mainstream — is no longer taboo, confined to the fringes of French politics. There remains another torrid week of campaigning before the decisive final voting Sunday, and whether the National Rally will be able to win an outright majority and form France's first far-right government since World War II remains uncertain.
Marked by high turnout of nearly 68% that reflected the high stakes, voters handed the Marine Le Pen’s National Rally a strong lead, with about 33% of the vote. The number includes the votes from a group of conservative candidates of The Republicans party who had allied with the far-right party in the first round. The New Popular Front, a leftist alliance, finished second with about 28%. The president’s centrist group came third with around 20%, according to figures released by the Interior Ministry.
When Macron dissolved the National Assembly on June 9, after a stinging defeat at the hands of the National Rally in French voting for the European Parliament, the deeply unpopular and weakened president gambled that his rivals wouldn't repeat that success when the country's own fate was in the balance.
He and his allies, as well as politicians on the left, are still hoping they can head off an outright win by the National Rally, and horse-trading began Monday, with some efforts to block far-right candidates taking shape. The leftist coalition said it would withdraw its candidates in districts where they arrived in third position in order to support other politicians opposed to the far right. Macron’s centrist alliance also said some of its candidates would step down before the runoff.
In Sunday's voting, 78 of the National Assembly's 577 seats were won outright, by candidates who got more than 50% of the vote in their district, according to French newspaper Liberation's analysis of the Interior Ministry data. Of those, 38 were from the National Rally, including Le Pen herself.
That triumph provided an additional boost for the far-right parties in Europe as Viktor Orbán’s Hungary takes over the European Union’s rotating presidency for six months.
To underline her party’s triumph, Le Pen said that National Rally lawmakers would meet at the parliament on Monday and symbolically claim their seats.
Addressing a jubilant crowd waving French tricolor flags of blue, white and red, Le Pen called on her supporters and voters who didn't back her party in the first round to push it over the line and give it a commanding legislative majority. That scenario would make the party's young leader, Jordan Bardella, prime minister — and force him and and Macron into an awkward power-sharing arrangement.
Macron, first elected in 2017, has said he will not step down before his second term expires in 2027.
“The French have almost wiped out the ‘Macronist’ bloc,” Le Pen said Sunday night. The results, she added, showed voters’ “willingness to turn the page after 7 years of contemptuous and corrosive power.”
If the National Rally is able to form a government, it has promised to dismantle many of Macron's key domestic and foreign policies, including taking a more confrontational approach to the European Union and stopping French deliveries of long-range missiles to Ukraine. The National Rally has historical ties to Russia, which invaded its neighbor two years ago.
At home, the party's plans include the rollback of Macron's pension reform that raised the retirement age and promises to boost voters' spending power without clearly detailing how it would pay for the pledge that could also spook European financial markets.
National Rally opponents fear for civil liberties if it takes power. Macron himself warned that the far right could set France on a path to civil war. Its plans to boost police powers and curb immigration also alarm many, including minorities. The National Rally has long been hostile toward France’s Muslim community.
Surk reported from Nice, France.
Follow AP's coverage of elections at https://apnews.com/hub/global-elections
People climd on the statue at Republique plaza during a protest against the far-right National Rally party which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Paris. France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal delivers a speech in the courtyard of the Prime Minister's residence, Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Paris. France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
Jordan Bardella, president of the French far-right National Rally party, answers reporters outside the party headquarters, Monday, July 1, 2024 in Paris. France's National Rally surged into the lead in the first round of legislative elections, according to results released early Monday, bringing the far-right party to the brink of power and dealing a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron's centrists in an election that could set the country, and Europe, on a starkly different course. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Marine Le Pen, leader the French far-right, arrives at the National Rally party headquarters, Monday, July 1, 2024 in Paris. France's National Rally surged into the lead in the first round of legislative elections, according to results released early Monday, bringing the far-right party to the brink of power and dealing a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron's centrists in an election that could set the country, and Europe, on a starkly different course. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Supporters of French far right leader Marine Le Pen react after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies , Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Henin-Beaumont, northern France. French voters propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong lead in first-round legislative elections Sunday and plunged the country into political uncertainty, according to polling projections. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
People gather at Republique plaza to protest the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Paris. France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
People gather at Republique Square to protest the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Paris. France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
People gather at Republique plaza to protest the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Paris. France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon speaks at Republique square during a protest against the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Paris. France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron leave the voting booth before voting in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. France is holding the first round of an early parliamentary election that could bring the country's first far-right government since Nazi occupation during World War II. The second round is on July 7, and the outcome of the vote remains highly uncertain (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron takes a selfie with supporters after voting in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France, Sunday, June 30, 2024. France is holding the first round of an early parliamentary election that could bring the country's first far-right government since Nazi occupation during World War II. The second round is on July 7, and the outcome of the vote remains highly uncertain (Yara Nardi, Pool via AP)
People gather at Republique plaza to protest the far-right National Rally, which came out strongly ahead in first-round legislative elections, Sunday, June 30, 2024, in Paris. France's high-stakes legislative elections propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong but not decisive lead in the first-round vote Sunday, polling agencies projected, dealing another slap to centrist President Emmanuel Macron. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
French far right leader Marine Le Pen reacts as she meets supporters and journalists after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies , Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Henin-Beaumont, northern France. French voters propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong lead in first-round legislative elections Sunday and plunged the country into political uncertainty, according to polling projections. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
French far right leader Marine Le Pen gestures after delivering her speech after the release of projections based on the actual vote count in select constituencies , Sunday, June 30, 2024 in Henin-Beaumont, northern France. French voters propelled the far-right National Rally to a strong lead in first-round legislative elections Sunday and plunged the country into political uncertainty, according to polling projections. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
