Dangerous winds are expected across north-east New Mexico, complicating the fight against wildfires that threaten thousands of homes in mountainous rural communities.
The region’s largest city – Las Vegas, home to 13,000 people – is largely safe from danger after firefighters mostly stopped a blaze there from moving east.
But the northern and southern flanks of the wildfire have proven trickier to contain as wind speeds topped 50mph.
Fire spokesman Todd Abel said on Sunday night: “It’s been a challenging day. The winds have picked up; they haven’t let up.”
A so-called “red flag warning” that indicates high fire danger due to heat, low humidity and high winds will remain in place through until Monday night, nearly four days after it began.
On Sunday, more than 1,600 firefighters battled the two major blazes burning north-east of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Together they covered 275 square miles, an area more than twice the size of Philadelphia. Firefighters had contained nearly half of the blazes by Sunday night.
However, the threat was far from over with the National Interagency Fire Centre saying early on Sunday that more than 20,000 structures remained threatened by the fire, which has destroyed about 300 residences over the past two weeks.
Fast winds are in many ways firefighters’ worst nightmare, especially in conditions as hot and dry as those the crews have been battling in the US south-west since early April.
In addition to fanning and spreading the flames, these winds keep air tankers and light planes grounded.
That left them unable to drop water directly on the fire or lay down retardant ahead of its path to allow bulldozers and ground crews to dig firebreaks in places where there are no highways or roads to help stop the progression.
Widespread critical #fire weather concerns are expected across portions of the Four Corners region into the southern High Plains on #Sunday. Unfortunately, extremely #dangerous threats are likely over parts of New Mexico, including near and south and east of #Albuquerque. pic.twitter.com/fTxfPFwld9
— National Weather Service (@NWS) May 7, 2022
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In extreme conditions, like the ones in New Mexico, even the helicopters that can typically get up in the air – at least during the early morning hours before winds start to pick up in the afternoon – are grounded. That prevents them from gathering intelligence about overnight developments. Aircraft were able to fly early on Sunday, but were grounded by the afternoon.
“It’s not good, obviously; it takes away a tool in our toolbox, but we’re not stopping,” said fire spokesperson Ryan Berlin.
Officials were concerned about winds that had whipped up more flames on the northern edge of the fire near some very small communities of several hundred people. Gusts had driven fire down into a canyon, making it difficult to get to, said Dave Bales, the incident commander.
Officials strongly urged people to be ready to evacuate or to leave immediately if they have been told to do so.
If you are evacuated due to a wildfire, remember your P's!
People
Pets
Prescriptions
Plastic (credit cards)
Papers (important documents; may include your Personal Computer)
Pictures (irreplaceable)
Phone & Phone Charger
It's best to have your go bag ready! @NWSAlbuquerque pic.twitter.com/6BQgy5gwEr— USDA Forest Service, SW (@ForestServiceSW) May 9, 2022
Should the fire overwhelm a community, heavy smoke and congested roads could make it hard for people to flee and for firefighters to access the area, Mr Bales said.
“It is so thick you can’t see, you can’t drive, you can’t see the engine ahead of you,” he added.
Those towns sit along a state highway that runs from Las Vegas, New Mexico, up to Taos, a popular place for skiing and other outdoor recreation.
Taos, however, was not threatened, but people in some parts of the larger Taos County have been told to prepare for possible evacuations.
In the small community of Las Vegas, some residents began returning on Saturday and some local businesses reopened.
Containment lines established by bulldozers as well as the direction of the wind helped keep the community safe over the weekend.
But some fire officials warned people to remain aware of evacuation orders because conditions could change quickly.
Wendy Mason with the New Mexico Forestry Division, said: “Just because the winds are coming from one direction doesn’t mean they can’t change direction, so it’s better to be prepared and have residents ready to go.”
Nationwide, close to 2,000 square miles have burned so far this year, with 2018 being the last time this much fire had been reported at this point, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
And predictions for the rest of the 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 wildfire.
