LAS VEGAS, New Mexico, USA (AP) — Weather conditions described as possibly historic were forecast for New Mexico on Saturday and the following days as more than 1,400 firefighters and a fleet of planes and helicopters worked feverishly to firm lines around the largest active fire in the United States.
Many families have already lost their homes and thousands of residents have been displaced by flames that have burned large swaths of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northeastern New Mexico.
Residents on the fringes of the shifting fire front held out hope that all the work done in recent days to clear brush, install sprinklers, launch hoses and use bulldozers to dig lines would prevent the fire from reaching the small town of Las Vegas and other towns to the north and south.
“There is uncertainty and there is fear about how the winds will affect the fire from one day to the next,” said Elmo Baca, president of the Las Vegas Community Foundation. “Once people are evicted from an area, they can’t come back, so they’re left worried.”
Las Vegas looked like a ghost town earlier in the week, as restaurants and supermarkets closed, schools closed or opted for remote learning and only firefighters remained in the tourist district.
By Saturday, after days of work to protect the city of some 13,000 people, some businesses had reopened and residents remained apprehensive as they tried to return to something resembling normal life.
In a park next to a library, four dog owners were taking dog obedience classes under gray skies. Among them was a person whose daughter had persistent headaches from the smoke from the fires and another whose husband works in construction and all of her work sites were burned to the ground.
“It’s literally like living under a dark cloud. It’s unnerving,” said Liz Birmingham, 66.
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