PHOENIX -- A fire raging east of the Valley spread over the weekend, prompting rangers to put more firefighters on the line.
The Tanner Wildfire has been burning for more than a month in the mountains northeast of Roosevelt Lake.
The fire line is holding by the nearest neighborhood, but over the weekend this fire that started with a lightning strike swallowed an 11-mile section of Highway 288 between Lake Roosevelt and Young, Ariz.
"Up until Friday, it had been doing a lot of good on the forest -- low intensity burn on the ground, just consuming a lot of accumulating fuel on the forest floor," said Dave Albo with the Tonto National Forest.
A change in the weather changed the fire's intensity, bringing the size of the wildfire to 4,800 acres.
"Saturday afternoon a thunderstorm built up over Armer Mountain and the winds pushed it across our fire line on Highway 288," Albo said.
Because of the spread, the Pleasant Valley Ranger District added firefighters. Between 30 and 40 worked Monday to push the fire back from the road.
"Our crews have been focusing on getting a containment line built around that portion that crossed the highway," Albo said.
There aren't many homes nearby. The fire did burn through part of a campground, but no campers were there. The only inconvenience is an 11-mile stretch of Highway 288 is closed due to the fire.
The Fire District aims to get the fire line off the road and contained as soon as possible. This firefight is also in the air.
Three air tankers dropped fire retardant in the area Monday morning and two helicopters continue doing water drops over the fire.
