A red flag warning went into effect on Sunday, kicking off what fire officials predicted would be another “historic, multi-day wind event that could result in extreme fire behavior.”
A few helicopters were able to gather new information from the air about the spread of the flames early Sunday “but they won’t be there for long due to the winds,” fire spokesman Tom Abel said.
“The wind is incredible. It is a precedent, the amount of wind that we are going to have and the duration that we are going to have,” she said at a morning briefing.
“They’re forecasting that the wind will blow all day today, through the night, all day tomorrow, so that’s a long time for our fire,” he said.
Thousands of residents have evacuated as flames have charred large swaths of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northeastern New Mexico, a total of 275 square miles (712 square kilometers).
The good news, Abel said, is that additional fire crews continue to arrive from across the West.
For many California firefighters supporting local units, the winds in New Mexico are unnerving. Unlike the sustained Santa Ana winds in southern California, the air around the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fires in New Mexico has been swirled and redirected in complex and changing interactions with mountains.
“We’ll see what happens,” said Fire Battalion Chief Ryan Lewis, of Ontario, California, on a rare break with his firefighters at a local hotel that serves hot meals to firefighters and evacuees.
The worst of the thick smoke from the wildfires had risen from some areas Saturday, allowing residents of rural Las Vegas, New Mexico, to regain a sense of normalcy Saturday as their rural neighbors took shelter amid predictions of extreme fire conditions.
Shops and restaurants were reopened, the historic center was no longer only populated by firefighters, but there was also a general feeling of anxiety, loss and wariness of what lies ahead.
“It’s literally like living under a dark cloud,” said Liz Birmingham, whose daughter had persistent headaches from the smoke. “It’s puzzling.”
Nationwide, nearly 2,000 square miles (5,180 square kilometers) have burned so far this year, with 2018 being the last time that many fires were reported at this point, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. And predictions for the rest of spring do not bode well for the West, where long-term drought and warmer temperatures brought on by climate change have combined to worsen the threat of wildfires.
The main threat from the New Mexico fire was now to the north, where flames burning through vegetation clogging the forest floor were threatening several small rural communities, fire spokesman Ryan Berlin said.
The threat to Las Vegas, a city of 13,000 people, was reduced after vegetation was removed to create containment lines. Local authorities on Saturday allowed residents of several areas on the northwestern outskirts of the city to return to their homes, Berlin said.
The city looked like a ghost town earlier in the week, with businesses shuttered, schools shuttered and the tourist district empty except for resting firefighters. By Saturday, he was in a partial state of recovery.
National Guard troops carried cases of water, people lined up to sign up for help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the state’s Democratic U.S. Senator, Martin Heinrich, met with local officials and toured the shelter that houses some of the displaced.
“We don’t know if our houses are burning or if it’s going to stop,” said Domingo Martinez, an evacuee from rural Manuelitas northwest of Las Vegas. “I hope it goes out so we can go home.”
Martinez, who is staying with her son on the east side of town, visited an old friend and neighbor who had been living in the high school shelter for 15 days.
Outside the school, Martínez received a free haircut from Jessica Aragón, a local hairdresser who volunteered her time.
“I love that everyone is coming together,” Aragon said. “I think a smile is worth a thousand words.”
Melley reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Susan Montoya Bryan, Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Paul Davenport and Michelle A. Monroe in Phoenix contributed to this report.
Reference-www.washingtonpost.com