Fierce winds drive wildfires in U.S. Southwest
Send a link to a friend
[April 23, 2022]
By Andrew Hay
(Reuters) -Howling winds pushed wildfires
towards villages in northern New Mexico on Friday, forcing thousands to
flee homes as blazes burned across the parched U.S. Southwest.
Over a dozen small communities were evacuated as two wildfires merged in
mountains around 30 miles northeast of Santa Fe, driven by wind gusts of
over 60 mph (97 kph), according to local authorities.
"It's heartbreaking, it's terrifying," said Joy Ansley, a spokeswoman
for San Miguel County where the fires are burning. "We're not letting
people back in once they come out, it's a very serious, a very grim
situation."
The so-called Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires combined about 12 miles
northwest of Las Vegas, New Mexico, according to the Inciweb fire
tracking site.
The blazes were among over a dozen burning across the U.S. Southwest as
a decades-long drought combined with abundant dry vegetation, raising
concerns the region was in for a harsh fire year.
Sparks were carried a mile ahead of New Mexico blazes, starting new
fires as flames surged through forest canopy, fire behavior analyst
Stewart Turner told a briefing.
"There's going to be a lot of homes, buildings impacted, it's a very
chaotic situation," Turner said of the Calf Canyon fire.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/042322pics/news_h19.jpg)
Smoke drifts from the Tunnel Fire north of Flagstaff, Arizona April
19, 2022 in a still image from video. Image taken April 19, 2022.
REUTERS/Reuters TV
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png) Rising temperatures have lowered
winter snowpacks and allowed larger and more extreme fires to start
earlier in the year, according to biologists. The prolonged drought
has been intensified by human-caused climate change, according to
climate scientists.
"New Mexico right now has multiple fires going, Arizona has multiple
fires going, and that is abnormal for this early in the season,"
said Laura Rabon, a spokeswoman for the Lincoln National Forest in
southern New Mexico where two people died in a blaze last week.
Around 35 miles east of Taos, New Mexico, the Cooks Peak fire
exploded in size to threaten the Philmont Scout Ranch and village of
Cimarron. Firefighers in Arizona began to contain the Tunnel fire
near Flagstaff which has burned dozens of homes.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, New Mexico;Editing by Matthew
Lewis & Shri Navaratnam)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |