Wildfires persist in New Mexico and Colorado, due to persistently dry and windy conditions that have forced thousands of people to evacuate.
Fire-fighters today scouted the drought-stricken mountainsides around a New Mexico village as they looked for opportunities to slow a wind-driven wildfire that a day earlier had burned at least 150 homes and other structures and forced the evacuation of thousands of residents.
The blaze torched at least 8.4 square miles (21.8 square kilometers) of forest and grass on the east side of the community of Ruidoso, said Laura Rabon, spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest.
An elderly couple whose remains were found Wednesday near their burned home were believed to have died in the fire, Village spokesperson Kerry Gladden said Thursday.
The remains were found near the home but not in it, and no additional information was immediately available, Gladden said.
While the cause of the blaze was under investigation, fire officials and forecasters warned that persistent dry and windy conditions had prompted red flag warnings for a wide swath that included almost all of New Mexico, half of Texas, and parts of Colorado and the Midwest, reports ABC News.
After five new large wildfires were reported on Tuesday, close to 1,600 wildland firefighters and support personnel were assigned to large fires in the southwestern, southern, and Rocky Mountain areas, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Six new large fires were reported yesterday, three in Texas, two in Colorado, and one in Oklahoma. Wildland firefighters and support personnel are working toward containment goals on 11 large fires that have burned 26,158 acres in 5 states, the agency reported on April 14.
Hotter and drier weather, along with a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change, has made the dire season a year-long event.
Ruidoso in 2012 was hit by one of the most destructive wildfires in New Mexico history, reports USNews, when a lightning-sparked blaze destroyed more than 240 homes and burned nearly 70 square miles (181 square kilometers).
Another wildfire in the Lincoln National Forest northwest of Ruidoso burned at least 400 acres (1.6 square kilometers) after it was sparked Tuesday by power lines downed by high winds. Crews confirmed Wednesday that 10 structures there were lost.
Colorado wildfires today
At least two large fires are burning in southeastern Colorado near the borders of Bent and Otero counties.
The Fort Lyon River Fire east of Las Animas claimed two homes, according to KRDO, 9NEWS‘ news partners in Colorado Springs. It was burning near the town of Las Animas.
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, incident commanders with Colorado State Patrol told KRDO the fire had burned 2,909 acres and was 50 percent contained.
As of 3 p.m. Wednesday, the Bent’s Fort Fire in Otero County had burned about 1,800 acres, according to La Junta Fire Department Chief Brad Davidson. He said the fire was about 25 percent contained.
