Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Fire crews take stand against destructive blaze
LAS VEGAS, N.M. » With flames marching across wide swaths of northeastern New Mexico’s tinderdry forests, firefighters were taking a stand Wednesday in their fight against the largest wildfire burning in the U.S. to keep it from pushing any closer to the town of Las Vegas and other villages scattered along the fire’s shifting fronts.
Like a game of chess, fire bosses were busy planning their next move and looking for spots where they could steal fuel ahead of the fire, starving it of more timber and brush.
Bulldozers for days have been scraping fire lines on the outskirts of Las Vegas, population about 13,000, while crews have been conducting burns to clear vegetation along the dozer lines. Airplanes and helicopters dropped more fire retardant as a second line of defense along ridge just west of town in preparation for the intense winds expected over the weekend.
Meanwhile, numerous fire engines and crews remained stationed Wednesday on the western edge of town.
Getting the right resources into the right areas when they can do the most good is the goal, fire officials said.
“And the chess board keeps getting bigger. That makes it even more complicated,” fire information officer Andy Lyon said Wednesday, referencing a peak and ridge on the northern end of the fire that weren’t factors days ago. “So now that topography is part of our equation, part of the chess board.”
The fire grew to 250 square miles, with containment stuck at 20% of its perimeter. In one area, the fire was about a mile away from Las Vegas on Wednesday, but the real concern were the gusts of 60 miles or more that were expected to sweep over the area during the weekend.
Officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory were warily tracking another wildfire that crept Wednesday within nearly 5 miles of facilities at the U.S. national defense laboratory based in Los Alamos.
Fire crews worked to widen a road that stands between the fire and Los Alamos while clearing out underbrush and treating the area with fire retardant.
“Currently, we feel confident that our mitigation measures will protect Laboratory property,” said Rich Nieto, the laboratory’s wildland fire manager in a statement.
Wildfires have become a year-round threat in the drought-stricken West — moving faster and burning hotter than ever due to climate change, scientists and fire experts say. Fire officials also point to overgrown and unhealthy forested areas where built-up vegetation can worsen wildfire conditions.