Firefighters report progress fighting Arizona blaze

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Firefighters battling a major wildfire in northwestern Arizona on Monday reported progress in containing a blaze that forced people out of about 1,000 homes and charred nearly 6,800 acres.

Officials said an estimated 300 firefighters took to the ground and the air early on Monday expecting to announce some degree of containment for a blaze that broke out two days ago.

"We're definitely encouraged by what we're seeing right now," said Dolores Garcia, a Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman. "We're just waiting to see if the lines we have on the ground will hold.?

The fire was one of dozens burning across the drought-parched West on Monday, many of them started by lightning strikes. In California, a firefighter died fighting a lightning-sparked blaze in the Sierra Nevada mountains near Lake Tahoe on Saturday.

Eleven structures have been destroyed in that fire, which is still burning, she said. No injuries have been reported.

The so-called Willow Fire ignited on Saturday morning in the Mohave Valley, about 30 miles southeast of Bullhead City, Arizona.

The fast-moving blaze, aided by strong winds, forced the evacuation of six housing subdivisions and other residences as it roared through salt cedar, mesquite, willow, grass and brush.

Fire officials said evacuation orders would be lifted for several communities Monday morning.

An American Red Cross shelter has been set up at a local elementary school for affected residents.

The fire was sparked by lightning on Bureau of Indian Affairs land near the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge, said Robyn Broyles, a spokeswoman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

Active blazes have been reported across the West, in California, Oregon and Washington state.

(Editing by Sharon Bernstein)

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