San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
FIRE SEASON ‘DANGEROUSLY EARLY’
N.M. governor urges caution as fires rage in 16 of 33 counties
New Mexico faces a long and potentially devastating wildfire season, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Saturday, as wildfires cause destruction and force people from their homes.
Hundreds of structures were lost in a growing number of wind-driven blazes across drought-stricken New Mexico, Lujan Grisham said Saturday.
More than 20 active wildfires were burning in at least 16 of the state’s 33 counties, in the wake of winds that gusted up to 90 mph on Friday, Lujan said during a briefing streamed online. “So half the state has a fire issue.”
With so many fires burning in April, well before the normal May or June start of the wildfire season, “our risk season is incredibly and dangerously early,” Lujan Grisham said.
Wildfire has become a year-round threat in the West given changing conditions that include earlier snowmelt and rain coming later in the fall, scientist have said. The problems have been exacerbated by decades of fire suppression and poor management along with a more than 20-year megadrought.
New Mexico as of Saturday had the most major wildfires burning of any state, though neighboring Arizona also had large fires that included one that burned 30 homes near Flagstaff on Tuesday.
Winds and temperatures in New Mexico diminished Saturday but remained strong enough to still fan fires, and dozens of evacuation orders remained in place.
More than 200 structures have burned, Lujan Grisham said. With fires still burning and charred areas too dangerous to enter, “it’s not safe for you or us to have a complete assessment to date,” she said, indicating that the number of lost structures would rise.
The largest blazes were concentrated in northern New Mexico, where two major fires merged and numerous villages were threatened by advancing flames.
Maggie Mulligan said Friday her dogs could sense the panic while she and her husband packed them up, agonized over having to leave horses behind and fled a fastmoving wildfire barreling toward their home.
“We don’t know what’s next,” she said. “We don’t know if we can go back to the horses.”
Wind-blown clouds of dust and plumes of smoke obscured the skies near the fires, said Jesus Romero, assistant county manager for San Miguel County. “All the ugliness that spring in New Mexico brings — that’s what they’re dealing in.”
Areas ordered Saturday to evacuate because of another large fire still growing in northern New Mexico included Philmont Scout Ranch. Meanwhile, the nearby town of Cimarron remained on notice for possible evacuation, according to Colfax County officials.
The scout ranch, owned and operated by the Boy Scouts of America, attracts thousands of summer visitors, but officials said no scouts were on the property and staff were previously evacuated because of poor air quality.