Smoke from the Wallow Wildfire surround trees in Eagar, Arizona June 7, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

SPRINGERVILLE, Arizona - Flames from a mammoth forest fire licked the ridges surrounding the eastern Arizona town of Eagar, forcing the evacuation of about half the 4,000 residents as surrounding towns also prepared to empty.

People started streaming out of Eagar on Tuesday as sheriff's deputies and police officers directed traffic. Flames were spotted on a ridge on the southeastern side of nearby Springerville and columns of orange smoke rose from the hills. Ash rained from the sky, which was filled with thick smoke, and when the sun peeked through, it was blood-red.

Angie Colwell, her husband Mike and their two children were loading up their belongings as authorities ordered their Eagar neighborhood to evacuate.

"We love the mountains and we're just afraid of what's going to be left after the fire comes through," the longtime resident said.

The blaze has burned 486 square miles (1,259 square kilometers) of ponderosa pine forest, driven by wind gusts of more than 60 mph (96 kph) since it was sparked May 29 by what authorities believe was an unattended campfire. On Tuesday, it became the second-largest fire in Arizona history.

No serious injuries have been reported, but the fire has destroyed 10 structures so far. It has cast smoke as far east as the state of Iowa and forced some planes to divert from Albuquerque, New Mexico, some 200 miles (320 kilometers) away.

Joe Reinarz, commander of a firefighting team battling the so-called Wallow fire, told residents Tuesday night that the fire was within two miles (three kilometers) of Springerville and Eagar.

Crews were trying to keep the flames away from Eagar and Springerville law enforcement officers patrolled the evacuated areas.

The Apache County sheriff's office issued the evacuation order for areas south of state Route 260 and east of Greer just before 4 pm.

Eagar has about 4,000 residents, while Springerville has another 2,000. In all, about 7,000 people have been ordered to prepare for evacuation in recent days.

Several tiny resort towns in the nearby Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest were evacuated earlier. Winds whipping the fire Monday drove the last holdouts from Greer.

Earlier in the day, bulldozers scraped away brush and trees to create a barrier between the towns and the approaching flames in the surrounding mountains. Other crews removed brush from around homes and firefighters were sent to protect buildings from the flames.

Thousands of firefighters, including many from several western states and as far away as New York, hope to keep the flames from getting into Springerville and Eagar, which sit in grassland at the edge of the forest.

With a blaze as large as this being driven by unpredictable and gusty winds, putting the fire out is a gargantuan task. All fire managers can do is try to steer it away from homes and cabins by using natural terrain, burning out combustible material first and trying to put out spot fires sparked by embers blowing in front of the main fire front.

New mapping showed that some firebreaks have held but the wildfire was still considered zero percent contained Tuesday night.

The American Red Cross has an evacuation center at the high school about 15 miles (24 kilometers) west in Lakeside, Arizona, that can handle several thousand people, spokesman Mark Weldon said.

Haze was being carried by a ridge of high pressure as far as central Iowa, said Kyle Fredin, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Denver. The smoke was also visible in New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas.

Colorado health officials canceled a smoke health advisory Tuesday as smoke cleared from the southern half of the state. Two airliners headed to Albuquerque were diverted Monday night because of smoke and high winds.

The state's largest blaze came in 2002 when flames blackened more than 732 square miles (1,895.square kilometers) and destroyed 491 homes. A fire in 2005 burned about 387 square miles (1,002 square kilometers) in the Phoenix suburb of Cave Creek and consumed 11 homes.

Another major wildfire was burning in southeastern Arizona, threatening two communities. The 166-square-mile (430-square-kilometer) blaze has devoured three summer cabins and four outbuildings since it started May 8.