New Delhi: New Mexico in the United States has been battling the second-largest wildfire in its history, and it is increasingly becoming a nightmare for the firefighters to put out the flames burning the mountains and canyons. In all, there have been six wildfires, and the worst of them is in the east of the capital of Santa Fe. With the extremely hot, windy and dry weather making things worse, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has called it "the worst possible set of conditions for any fire", US media reported.
On Sunday, the firefighters made an appeal to the holdout residents of a mountain village, Chacon, to evacuate before the fire consumes a valley that is their only way out, news agency Reuters reported.
Chacon, which is located about 45 miles (72 km) northeast of Santa Fe, has a population of around 200 people living in their centuries-old houses and ranches, and many of them have so far ignored the request, according to the report.
The fire right now is only 13 km away.
"It's coming, and it's coming fast," Dave Bales, the incident commander, was quoted as saying. He said a lot of residents are staying put in Chacon and Guadalupita, another village under threat.
In all, about 12,000 households in northern New Mexico have been told to evacuate.
"With winds like this, this fire can burn another 50,000 acres," William Sandoval, one of the villagers who left Chacon, told Reuters over the phone from an evacuation centre in the nearby Peñasco town.
The second-largest wildfire in state history, which began over a month ago, got out of control on April 6.
Quoting forest biologist Joshua Sloan from New Mexico Highlands University, the Reuters report said the fire is advancing through the forests that are packed with fuel. Research on tree rings in the Jemez Mountains nearby shows climate change has reduced snowpacks, resulting in the area seeing its worst drought in at least five centuries.
‘Almost A Form Of Cultural Genocide’
The ferocious Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire has consumed 1,76,273 acres so far, and 21 per cent of it has been contained, the Reuters report said.
The fire was spreading at 50 miles per hour at one point, a CNN report quoted Travis Regensberg, a general contractor engaged to protect homes and buildings in the area, as saying.
"It's been a nightmare," he told CNN last week. "It's been really tough for us. I've been on this 17 days straight — three, four hours of sleep a night to protect the communities here."
The firefighters are creating perimeter rings around the buildings to protect them, he said, adding that they are using bulldozers to cut fire lines, but are trying to minimise harm to septic and well systems.
Regensberg said they are trying their best to ensure people have "a place to come back to" when things are normal.
The biggest challenge for the firefighters have been the high winds.
"This fire is a sleeping beast. I mean, I call it the devil," Regensberg told CNN.
"I'm 71 years old. I've never seen it this bad, this big — I mean this was huge," Barbara Kuehl, who lives with husband David Kuehl in Holman village located north of the fire-engulfed areas, told CNN. They lost electricity but the house has been spared.
The monster fire has burnt many houses in Mora valley, which is home to churches, chapels, mud-brick ranch houses, and water mills dating back to the early 19th century, another Reuters report said.
"It's almost a form of cultural genocide that's going on and the fire is the enemy," said Miguel Gandert, a retired professor of University of New Mexico who has his ancestral house in Mora.