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(CNN) -- As a giant wildfire raged in Arizona Thursday, fire officials and power companies said they were planning for the possibility that the blaze would reach crucial transmission lines that supply power to thousands.
"There's some power lines out there. There's also some fiber-optic lines out there, and if it goes we lose all kinds of communication, including cell phones," Jim Whittington, spokesman with the Southwest Interagency Incident Management team, told reporters in Springerville, Arizona.
The Wallow Fire, as the blaze is called, has scorched more than 386,000 acres, leaving a giant bear-paw-like burn mark on the map of eastern Arizona. The fire is about "half a mile from New Mexico in some places," Whittington said.
The fire was still burning Thursday evening, but authorities said decreased winds during the day had allowed them to make headway and contain the flames in some areas.
"We're gaining. It may look like we haven't done anything for days, but there's been a lot happening," Joe Reinarz, an incident commander, said at a community meeting in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona.
If the weather cooperates Friday, he said, authorities may allow residents who evacuated the communities of Eagar and Springerville to return home Saturday.
But despite the progress, El Paso Electric said earlier Thursday that the fire had crept to within 15 miles of company transmission lines that serve nearly 400,000 people.
"Currently we are preparing for the possible loss of electricity," company spokeswoman Teresa Souza told CNN.
"We've got two transmission lines that go into Arizona, and they are in the area of the fire," she said. "Those two transmission lines carry about 40% of our service area in western Texas and southern New Mexico."
El Paso Electric was preparing for contingency plans, including rolling blackouts in some areas, she said.
"We are making provisions to obtain additional power from other resources," Sousa said.
Meanwhile, authorities were discussing damage caused by the fire with residents in particularly hard-hit communities.
Authorities were notifying residents in the community of Greer, where the wildfire destroyed 22 homes and damaged five others, according to information from the Apache County Sheriff's Office posted on the InciWeb incident information site.
Officials were also notifying residents in Alpine and Nutrioso, where five homes had been destroyed, the site said.
Earlier Thursday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer spoke by telephone with President Barack Obama about the wildfires.
"The President pledged to provide all federal resources necessary to the state of Arizona in the battle to contain the wildfires raging throughout the state," Brewer said in a statement.
"The fires are a top federal responsibility and I was assured he will do everything in his power to guarantee Arizona has federal assistance in the continued fight to protect our state from this disaster," the statement said.
Brewer said Thursday that dozens of National Guard personnel were moving into place to respond to logistics and transportation requests. Three National Guard fuel tankers are supporting firefighters battling the blaze, she said.
The governor declared a state of emergency earlier in the week to mobilize funds for the wildfires in Apache and Greenlee counties.
The blaze, about 607 square miles -- or about the size of Houston -- has caused authorities to evacuate thousands of people since the wildfire began sweeping through the Apache National Forest on May 29.
On Thursday, Whittington, said if the blaze reached the fiber-optic cables, communication in part of Springerville would be lost. "We'll all be incommunicado."
"The firefighters will continue to use their radio. Everybody else would be out of luck for a while," he said. But he said there are some contingencies in place" in case it were to happen, he said.
Whittington said he didn't think the power lines were in any "imminent danger, but there are things we have to plan for," he said.
Whittington said that although winds were favorable Thursday, it was too early to talk about containment.
Power companies planned Thursday for the possibility that the blaze would reach power lines.
"We do have a couple of transmissions lines that the fire is approaching. The fire is currently about eight miles from that line," Joe Salkowski, spokesman for Tucson Electric Power told CNN Thursday.
"If it gets closer the fire could cause the lines to short-circuit and if that happens we would lose power," Salkowski said. "It would not lead to rolling blackouts. We would be able to substitute that power without a problem," he said.
Tucson Electric serves about 400,000 customers, Salkowski said.
Whittington said fire officials were expecting to get a DC-10 airliner later in the day to help douse the flames. "We're going to test it out and make sure we can be effective and efficient" with it, he said.
Another power company in the area, Navopache Electric, said on its website that some of its service territory remained in a blackout due to the fire. Communities without power included Greer, Sunrise, Big Lake and South Fork.
"Navopache Electric's New Mexico service territory is currently being fed by generators," the website said.
Firefighters have been using a method called backfiring, in which they light smaller fires ahead of the blaze in hopes that it dies in the already crispy timber.
But the fire, up until Thursday, has been jumping over the backfires, Susan Zornek, public information officer with the incident management team in Springerville, said.
"As the fire advances toward that burnt area, we've been hoping that it's actually out of fuel, because as we all know, fire needs fuel," she said. "But winds have been so strong that they have been picking up the embers and dropping them three miles ahead of the backfires, causing the fire to continue to spread," she said. "Today the good news is that the winds are supposed to be much less severe," she said.
Firefighters were aided by calmer winds in the area, the National Weather Service said.
"Conditions are improving a little bit today," meteorologist Chris Outler, based in Flagstaff, told CNN Thursday. "We're expecting winds of 10 to 20 mph, which is a little bit better than we've been seeing the last couple days."
As city officials instituted mandatory evacuations for towns in the blaze's path, Outler said calmer winds would be the extent of Mother Nature's help in the foreseeable future.
"It'll be quite dry for the next few weeks," he said.
Wind gusts of up to 40 mph, along with low humidity levels, have bedeviled firefighting efforts in the area in recent days.
"There's some power lines out there. There's also some fiber-optic lines out there, and if it goes we lose all kinds of communication, including cell phones," Jim Whittington, spokesman with the Southwest Interagency Incident Management team, told reporters in Springerville, Arizona.
The Wallow Fire, as the blaze is called, has scorched more than 386,000 acres, leaving a giant bear-paw-like burn mark on the map of eastern Arizona. The fire is about "half a mile from New Mexico in some places," Whittington said.
The fire was still burning Thursday evening, but authorities said decreased winds during the day had allowed them to make headway and contain the flames in some areas.
"We're gaining. It may look like we haven't done anything for days, but there's been a lot happening," Joe Reinarz, an incident commander, said at a community meeting in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona.
If the weather cooperates Friday, he said, authorities may allow residents who evacuated the communities of Eagar and Springerville to return home Saturday.
But despite the progress, El Paso Electric said earlier Thursday that the fire had crept to within 15 miles of company transmission lines that serve nearly 400,000 people.
"Currently we are preparing for the possible loss of electricity," company spokeswoman Teresa Souza told CNN.
"We've got two transmission lines that go into Arizona, and they are in the area of the fire," she said. "Those two transmission lines carry about 40% of our service area in western Texas and southern New Mexico."
El Paso Electric was preparing for contingency plans, including rolling blackouts in some areas, she said.
"We are making provisions to obtain additional power from other resources," Sousa said.
Meanwhile, authorities were discussing damage caused by the fire with residents in particularly hard-hit communities.
Authorities were notifying residents in the community of Greer, where the wildfire destroyed 22 homes and damaged five others, according to information from the Apache County Sheriff's Office posted on the InciWeb incident information site.
Officials were also notifying residents in Alpine and Nutrioso, where five homes had been destroyed, the site said.
Earlier Thursday, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer spoke by telephone with President Barack Obama about the wildfires.
"The President pledged to provide all federal resources necessary to the state of Arizona in the battle to contain the wildfires raging throughout the state," Brewer said in a statement.
"The fires are a top federal responsibility and I was assured he will do everything in his power to guarantee Arizona has federal assistance in the continued fight to protect our state from this disaster," the statement said.
Brewer said Thursday that dozens of National Guard personnel were moving into place to respond to logistics and transportation requests. Three National Guard fuel tankers are supporting firefighters battling the blaze, she said.
The governor declared a state of emergency earlier in the week to mobilize funds for the wildfires in Apache and Greenlee counties.
The blaze, about 607 square miles -- or about the size of Houston -- has caused authorities to evacuate thousands of people since the wildfire began sweeping through the Apache National Forest on May 29.
On Thursday, Whittington, said if the blaze reached the fiber-optic cables, communication in part of Springerville would be lost. "We'll all be incommunicado."
"The firefighters will continue to use their radio. Everybody else would be out of luck for a while," he said. But he said there are some contingencies in place" in case it were to happen, he said.
Whittington said he didn't think the power lines were in any "imminent danger, but there are things we have to plan for," he said.
Whittington said that although winds were favorable Thursday, it was too early to talk about containment.
Power companies planned Thursday for the possibility that the blaze would reach power lines.
"We do have a couple of transmissions lines that the fire is approaching. The fire is currently about eight miles from that line," Joe Salkowski, spokesman for Tucson Electric Power told CNN Thursday.
"If it gets closer the fire could cause the lines to short-circuit and if that happens we would lose power," Salkowski said. "It would not lead to rolling blackouts. We would be able to substitute that power without a problem," he said.
Tucson Electric serves about 400,000 customers, Salkowski said.
Whittington said fire officials were expecting to get a DC-10 airliner later in the day to help douse the flames. "We're going to test it out and make sure we can be effective and efficient" with it, he said.
Another power company in the area, Navopache Electric, said on its website that some of its service territory remained in a blackout due to the fire. Communities without power included Greer, Sunrise, Big Lake and South Fork.
"Navopache Electric's New Mexico service territory is currently being fed by generators," the website said.
Firefighters have been using a method called backfiring, in which they light smaller fires ahead of the blaze in hopes that it dies in the already crispy timber.
But the fire, up until Thursday, has been jumping over the backfires, Susan Zornek, public information officer with the incident management team in Springerville, said.
"As the fire advances toward that burnt area, we've been hoping that it's actually out of fuel, because as we all know, fire needs fuel," she said. "But winds have been so strong that they have been picking up the embers and dropping them three miles ahead of the backfires, causing the fire to continue to spread," she said. "Today the good news is that the winds are supposed to be much less severe," she said.
Firefighters were aided by calmer winds in the area, the National Weather Service said.
"Conditions are improving a little bit today," meteorologist Chris Outler, based in Flagstaff, told CNN Thursday. "We're expecting winds of 10 to 20 mph, which is a little bit better than we've been seeing the last couple days."
As city officials instituted mandatory evacuations for towns in the blaze's path, Outler said calmer winds would be the extent of Mother Nature's help in the foreseeable future.
"It'll be quite dry for the next few weeks," he said.
Wind gusts of up to 40 mph, along with low humidity levels, have bedeviled firefighting efforts in the area in recent days.
