Wind-induced forest fires destroyed hundreds of structures in northern New Mexico and forced thousands to flee mountain villages as fires broke out unusually earlier this year in the parched southwestern United States.
Two forest fires merged northwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and passed through a 15-mile (24 km) forest driven by winds of more than 75 miles per hour (121 km / h), destroying more than 200 buildings, state officials said.
To the northeast, a fire about 35 miles west of Taos has doubled in size to become the largest fire in the United States, forcing the evacuation of a scout ranch and threatening several villages.
Forest fires are the worst of nearly two dozen in the southwestern United States and have raised fears that the region is gripped by a brutal fire year as a decades-long drought combined with abundant dry vegetation.
Until Saturday, five counties in New Mexico were in a state of emergency after Governor Michel Lujan Grisham issued one for Mora County. She declared a state of emergency in the counties of Colfax, Lincoln, San Miguel and Valencia on Friday.
Today I declared a state of emergency for the county of Mora, following similar declarations yesterday for the counties of Colfax, Lincoln, San Miguel and Valencia.
This executive order provides funding and state resources for communities battling ongoing forest fires.
– Governor Michel Lujan Grisham (@GovMLG) April 23, 2022
“We have a longer, more dangerous and more dramatic fire season ahead of us,” Lujan Grisham told reporters, adding that the state had 20 active fires after the “unprecedented” wind storm on Friday.
Winds and temperatures in New Mexico eased on Saturday, but remained strong enough to continue to ignite fires, and dozens of evacuation orders remained in effect.
More than 200 structures have burned down, Lujan Grisham said, without giving details of the locations or number of homes included in the census.
She urged residents to refrain from using fireworks or burning garbage and to evacuate when fire warnings are issued. “You have to leave. The risks are too great, “she said.
The fires at Calf Canyon and Mount Hermitage near Las Vegas together burned 42,341 acres (171 square kilometers), an area larger than Disney World in Florida. The evacuation has expanded to another half-dozen communities, including the village of Mora, the governor said.
According to scientists, climate change has reduced snow cover in winter and allowed larger and more extreme fires to start earlier in the year.
West of Taos, the Kuks Peak fire nearly doubled to 48,672 acres, forcing the evacuation of the Filmont Scout Ranch and threatening the village of Simaron.
New Mexico had the biggest wildfires in any state since Saturday, though neighboring Arizona also had major wildfires where 100-foot (30-meter) flames raced through rural neighborhoods near Flagstaff this week.
Elsewhere in the region, the fire risk in the Denver area on Friday was the highest in more than a decade, according to the National Weather Service, due to off-season temperatures in the 1980s (26C-32C), combined with strong winds and high winds. dry conditions.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report
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