About 2,000 residents of the eastern Arizona town of Eagar were ordered to evacuate as flames from a raging forest fire appeared on ridges surrounding the town and neighbouring Springerville.

A fugitive couple who sparked a nationwide US manhunt were captured at an Arizona campground after a forest ranger spotted them and their stolen vehicle hidden in the trees.

Thousands of people were urged to evacuate three Arizona towns today as an out-of-control wildfire roared across 48,000 acres of forest.