SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Evacuation orders in Arizona have been lifted for some residents of northeast Scottsdale, days after they were forced from their homes by a wildfire, authorities said Sunday.
The Boulder View Fire was 19% contained Sunday after charring nearly 6 square miles (15 square kilometers) on the cusp of the Boulder Heights subdivision since Thursday.
About 60 homes were evacuated Friday. No injuries have been reported and no structures have been damaged.
Authorities said the cause of the fire remains under investigation. It began about 5 miles (8 kilometers) outside northern Scottsdale on the edge of the Tonto National Forest.
Maricopa County Department of Emergency Management officials said evacuations were lowered from “GO” to “SET” status Saturday evening for some displaced residents preparing to return home.
Scottsdale officials have notified homeowners that the north part of the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, including all trails, will be closed until further notice. They called that a precautionary move and said there was no immediate threat to the preserve.
Tiffany Davila, a spokesperson for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, said nearly 270 firefighters were battling the wildfire in triple-digit heat on Sunday.
She said there was a chance of thunderstorms in the fire area Sunday evening and that could make firefighting efforts more complicated due to gusty winds and lightning strikes.
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)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Inflation in the United States is slowing again after higher readings earlier this year, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday, while adding that more such evidence would be needed before the Fed would cut interest rates.
After some persistently high inflation reports at the start of 2024, Powell said, the data for April and May “do suggest we are getting back on a disinflationary path."
Speaking in a panel discussion at the European Central Bank's monetary policy conference in Sintra, Portugal, Powell said Fed officials still want to see annual price growth slow further toward their 2% target before they would feel confident of having fully defeated high inflation.
“We just want to understand that the levels that we’re seeing are a true reading of underlying inflation," he added.
On Friday, the government reported that consumer prices, according to the Fed's preferred measure, were unchanged from April to May, the mildest such reading in more than four years. And compared with a year earlier, inflation dropped to just 2.6% in May, from 2.7% in April, the government said.
Excluding volatile food and energy costs, “core” prices also barely rose from April to May. On a year-over-year basis, core inflation fell to 2.6% from 2.8% in April. The latest inflation figures were a sharp improvement from early this year.
In his appearance Tuesday, Powell said the U.S. economy and job market remain fundamentally healthy, which means the Fed can take its time in deciding when rate cuts are appropriate. Most economists think the Fed's first rate cut will occur in September, with potentially another cut to follow by year's end.
The Fed chair also said the job market is “cooling off appropriately,” which likely means that it won't heighten inflationary pressures through rapid wage gains.
“It doesn’t look like it’s heating up or presenting a big problem for inflation going forward," Powell said of the job market. “It looks like it’s doing just what you would want it to do, which is to cool off over time.”
FILE - Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference at the Federal Reserve in Washington, June 12, 2024. Powell will be in Portugal on Tuesday, July 2, 2024, to take part in a panel discussion on central banking policy with members of the European Central Bank. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
