By Andrew Hay and Tyler Clifford
TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) – A mix of relentless winds, near-record high temperatures and extremely low humidity in the coming days is expected to fuel a massive New Mexico wildfire that has already chased thousands from their homes in the mountains northeast of Santa Fe.
Beginning this weekend, persistent winds of 45 miles per hour (72 km/h), temperatures in the 90s Fahrenheit and single-digit humidity readings are forecast in the three counties where the Calf Canyon Fire has scorched more than 168,000 acres (67,987 hectares), U.S. Forest Service officials said on Friday.
Fire officials have bolstered their response by deploying more firefighters and heavy equipment to manage the blaze in the event it moves further north, Todd Abel, a battalion chief with the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, said.
A series of weather systems will begin to sweep through the fire area on Saturday, he said. “Those systems are probably some of the windiest systems I’ve personally seen and some of the harshest fire-fighting conditions that I’ve seen.”
The fire, which had already scorched an area equal to more than half of New York City, was 20% contained on Friday morning as it burned drought-parched vegetation around several centuries-old farming and ranching communities in the Sangre de Cristo mountains northeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The biggest active blaze in the United States has chased about 10,000 people from their homes and destroyed more than 165 houses in Mora and San Miguel counties since it began on April 6. It is the most destructive of a dozen Southwest blazes that scientists say are more widespread and arriving earlier this year due to climate change.
Despite the threatening conditions, more than half the 4,500 residents in Mora County have stayed behind to defend homes that some families have occupied for centuries, even as some run out of food and water, officials said.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in Taos, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, Tyler Clifford in Washington D.C.; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
