Arizona firefighters work to save neighbors' homes and their ow

SHOW LOW, Ariz. -- Firefighter Darin Whiting was protecting someone else's house from a raging wildfire when flames swept into his neighborhood and swallowed his own home.

The Pinedale Fire Department was battling the same blaze when it ripped through town and destroyed its firehouse.

For firefighters who live in the small, tight-knit communities along the edge of the biggest wildfire in Arizona history, the destruction literally has hit home. And the battle to save other towns is personal.

Firefighters around Show Low say at least five of their comrades have lost their homes.

"It's a double-edged sword," said Show Low fire chief Ben Owens. "It upsets everybody, but it makes them work harder."

The blaze has swallowed 417,000 acres and wrecked at least 423 homes over the past week and a half. The fire jumped a containment line Friday and inched up steep canyons toward 600 abandoned houses.

Firehouse burns down

Last week, as a wall of flame surged over a ridge in the surrounding forest, Pinedale's all-volunteer squad was forced to give up protecting the homes of friends and neighbors. They covered as many buildings as possible in flame-protective foam and then bolted for Clay Springs to try to save homes there.

When they returned that evening, some buildings were standing, some lay in ruins. Firefighters cried when they saw the smoldering ashes that had been their fire station.

In Heber-Overgaard, where more than 200 homes burned and where firefighters continued to hold a line Friday, fire chief Mell Epps said none of his firefighters have lost their homes but many are working in their own neighborhoods.

He described an exchange with Tony Cantarella, the man in charge of heavy equipment needed to tear up a road where a line was being dug. It looked as if houses on one side of the road would be spared, while houses on the other side would probably be destroyed.

"One of the other guys in the meeting said, 'Tony, isn't your house on the side we're going to sacrifice?'" Epps recalled. "He said, 'Sure is,' and walked out of the room."