Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Wildfires char 150,000 acres
More homes at risk in three states; one fatality reported
Wildfires that continue to blaze across Arizona, Nebraska and New Mexico have been blamed for at least one death, the scorching of more than 150,000 acres and the evacuations of about 4,000 homes, officials said.
The fires are part of what has been an early and active season across the country, as fires have also plagued California, Colorado and Texas.
Corey Mead, a National Weather Service forecaster, said Nebraska had seen “above normal” activity during its current fire season. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, said the fires had come well before the beginning of the state’s wildfire season.
“It’s going to be a tough summer,” she said.
Wildfires are increasing in size and intensity in the United States and wildfire seasons are growing longer. Research has suggested that heat and dryness associated with global warming are major reasons for the increase in larger, more powerful fires.
In New Mexico, Lujan Grisham said Saturday that the largest threat in her state was the Calf Canyon fire, east of Santa Fe, which put more than 900 homes at risk.
The Calf Canyon fire combined with the Hermits Peak fire, about 12 miles northwest of Las Vegas, N.M., at the base of Hermits Peak in the Pecos Wilderness. The Hermits Peak fire started April 6 after “unexpected erratic winds” from a prescribed fire in the area caused the blaze to grow, officials reported.
Lujan Grisham said more than 200 structures had been burned and that 1,000 firefighters had been dispatched. By Sunday, the Calf Canyon fire had burned more than 54,000 acres and was 12% contained.
More than 3,400 homes in New Mexico were under mandatory evacuations, and more than 3,000 homes were under voluntary evacuations because of the wildfires. Lujan Grisham said residents who were not under any evacuation orders should be prepared to leave because of the nature of the rapidly spreading fires.
Coconino County in northern Arizona was under a state of emergency as firefighters struggled to contain a wildfire about 14 miles northeast of Flagstaff. More than 260 firefighters and workers had been deployed to the fire, which forced more than 750 households in the area to evacuate, according to the governor’s office.
The fire in Coconino County, which began April 17, was only 3% contained as of Sunday and had already burned more than 21,000 acres. About 25 structures have been lost to the fire, known as the Tunnel fire, the governor’s office said.
One of the casualties of the Tunnel fire has been the Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, which has been “burned in its entirety,” the park said on Facebook.
The monument, which occupies 3,040 acres and is surrounded by Coconino National Forest, is centered around a cinder cone that is the youngest volcano of the largest volcanic field in the contiguous United States. The park’s visitor center was unharmed, but fires nearby continued to burn, the park said.
The sheriff’s office in Coconino County said evacuation orders for some neighborhoods along Highway 89 would be lifted Sunday as the threat of the fire diminished in some areas.
In Nebraska, firefighters were still working to contain that large fire Sunday, and officials didn’t have an estimate of how much of it had been contained.
The wildfires fueled by high winds and dry grass, burned throughout the western and central regions of the state, and killed a retired fire chief, authorities said.
The state’s National Guard deployed at least three helicopters and several trucks to help with the fires, and the state’s Wildland Incident Response and Assistance Team sent specialists to several of them, the emergency management agency said Saturday.
The man who died Friday night was a retired Cambridge fire chief who was working with firefighters as a spotter in Red Willow County in the southwestern corner of the state. That fire had burned more than 78 square miles in Red Willow, Furnas and Frontier counties by Sunday afternoon.
Alyssa Sanders, with the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency, said 66-year-old John Trumble, of Arapahoe, was overcome by smoke and fire after his vehicle left the road Friday because of poor visibility from smoke and dust. His body was found early Saturday.
At least 15 firefighters have been injured battling the blazes, including five who were hurt in the fire that killed Trumble, but a spokeswoman said the state agency didn’t have details about their injuries.