As early-season wildfires burn in New Mexico and Colorado, federal officials on Tuesday said that the Santa Fe National Forest and the Carson National forest would close effective Thursday.
The New Mexico parkland would be of-limits as a precaution amid the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire along the southern end of the Rocky Mountains, known in the state as the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, said federal fire incident spokesperson Renette Saba.
The blaze was burning about 100 miles east-northeast of Santa Fe.
Portions of the Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands were also expected to close Thursday as the Black Fire surges about 100 miles south-southwest of Albuquerque, U.S. Forest Service officials said.
On Monday, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire the state’s largest ever. Officials estimated it to be more than 299,560 acres, state and federal officials said. It has surpassed the Whitewater-Baldy Fire of 2012.
The fire grew by nearly 100,000 acres, about half of its size on May 10, in a week and is expected to surpass the 300,000-acre mark soon, Saba said.
“I don’t want to give New Mexicans any false hopes that the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire will be contained any time soon,” state forester Laura McCarthy said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The Black Fire, which grew by an estimated 37,000 acres from Sunday to Monday, was scheduled to be placed under federal management as a major fire incident Wednesday, she said.
The blaze started May 13 and has spread to more than 56,000 acres, federal officials said. Its cause was under investigation. Residents of the Lookout Mountain area were ordered to evacuate as a precaution.
Grisham said that fire season getting an early start, New Mexicans should expect to be prepared for potential evacuations throughout summer.
The Hermits Peak fire started April 6 when a prescribed burn got out of control. It merged April 22 with the Calf Canyon Fire, which started three days earlier. The cause of that blaze was under investigation.
On May 4, President Joe Biden declared major disaster status for New Mexico, which connects fire victims to federal aid for recovery, including rebuilding where necessary.
Federal officials estimated that about a fourth of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire was surrounded Tuesday.
The number of structures burned is unknown, said incident spokesperson Saba.
A San Miguel County official said last month that nearly 300 structures, including 166 homes, had burned during the Hermits Peak Fire phase.
Residents of San Miguel, Mora, Taos, and Colfax counties were told Tuesday to remain on high alert in case mandatory evacuations were ordered. An emotional support group for fire-stressed residents of the region was launched Monday and scheduled to meet weekly in the city of Las Vegas, N.M.
Nearly 2,100 firefighters and support staffers were assigned to the fire, officials said.
In Colorado, firefighters were grappling with the High Park Fire, measured Tuesday morning at more than 1,500 acres, with 37 percent containment, federal officials said.
The fire was about 45 miles west of Colorado Springs. Officials in Teller County said in a statement the blaze has forced the evacuation of about 560 homes.
The National Interagency Fire Center Tuesday said 400,000 acres have burned in 11 large active fires, predominantly in the Southwest. Its estimate of 1.3 million acres burned so far this year far surpasses a 10-year average of 753,855 acres burned by this time on the calendar, it said.
The center implicated the warmer, drier weather conditions in the Southwest, but it also blamed people who inadvertently start wildland fires, often through carelessness.
Todd Miyazawa contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
