BIDEN DECLARES DISASTER IN N.M.
Blaze in northern part of state grows to 160,000 acres
Firefighters slowed the advance of the largest wildfire burning in the U.S. as heavy winds relented Wednesday, while President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration that brings new financial resources to remote stretches of northern New Mexico devastated by the blaze.
U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez announced the presidential disaster declaration during an evening briefing by the U.S. Forest Service about efforts to contain the fire, which has fanned out across 160,000 acres of high alpine forest and grasslands at the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains.
“It will help us do that rebuilding and it will help us with the expenses and the hardship that people are facing right now,” the congresswoman
said. “We’re glad it happened this quickly.”
Fire bosses said they are seizing upon an interlude of relatively calm and cool weather to keep the fire from pushing any closer to the small New Mexico city of Las Vegas and other villages scattered along the fire’s shifting fronts. Airplanes and helicopters strategically dropped slurries of red fire retardant, as ground crews cleared timber and brush to starve the
fire along crucial fronts.
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. Aircraft dropped more fire retardant as a second line of defense along a ridge just west of town in preparation for intense winds expected over the weekend.
Local law enforcement officials urged residents to be careful not to spread misinformation. Las Vegas Police Chief Antonio Salazar said his officers would provide “burglary patrols” of evacuated areas and help maintain order at a local Walmart as people line up to purchase supplies.
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 just days ago. “So now that topography is part of our equation, part of the chess board.”
The fire grew to 160,000 acres, with containment stuck at 20 percent of its perimeter.