Frantic fight to keep fire at bay

Weather conditions described as potentially historic are on tap for New Mexico for several more days as more than 1400 firefighters and a fleet of planes and helicopters worked feverishly to bolster lines around the largest blaze in the United States.

Many families already have been left homeless and thousands of residents have evacuated due to flames that have charred large swaths of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northeastern New Mexico.

Residents on the fringes of the shifting fire front were holding out hope that all the work done over recent days to clear brush, install sprinklers, run hose lines and use bulldozers to scrape lines will keep the fire from reaching the small city of Las Vegas and other villages.

‘‘There’s uncertainty and there’s fear about how the winds are going to affect the fire from day to day,’’ said Elmo Baca, chairman of the Las Vegas Community Foundation. ‘‘Once the people are evacuated out of an area, they can’t go back, so they’re just stuck worrying.’’

Work by fire crews to protect Las Vegas was ‘‘looking really good’’ but continued yesterday, said Todd Abel, a fire operations official.

The blaze, now a month old, has blackened more than 691 square kilometers.

AP New Mexican Johnny Trujillo, 53, talks about battling the blaze that destroyed his sister’s home and his truck.