LAS VEGAS, New York – City officials on Sunday prepared for the possibility of a mass evacuation of Las Vegas residents on Monday as relentless winds pushed Hermites and Calf Canyon closer to the city and placed other communities in a growing part of the North. Mexico on the edge.
“This is not a small fire,” Las Vegas Mayor Louis Trujillo told an emergency meeting of the city council on Sunday. “This is the greatest disaster in the history of New Mexico – one of the greatest in the history of the United States.”
The fire, which rose to about 104,000 acres by Sunday morning, is not currently the largest in the state’s history and has not resulted in any reported deaths to date. But its proximity to Las Vegas and further north, Mora, puts it in the league with the fires of Whitewater-Baldy, Las Conchas and Cerro Grande – monstrous 21st century flames that have changed landscapes and, in the case of Cerro Grande, communities for decades.
Officials speculated late Saturday that the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires – listed as 30 percent detained, despite more than 1,000 staff at the scene – would at least double. This was an assessment that surprised almost no one in the San Miguel and Mora area of the state, where smoke was constantly present and evacuation orders piled up during the day.
Until Sunday night, sites on the outskirts of Las Vegas, including Mineral Hill and Montezuma, looked like potential problems. Smaller communities far north of the city, including Mora, were no longer safe: officials ordered mandatory evacuation orders for the city early in the day.
“It’s a big shootout,” said Dave Bales, commander of the fire-fighting incident, Sunday night.
The relentless constant in all this was the wind.
It blew non-stop all Sunday and seemed unlikely to offer even a hint of relief until Wednesday.
Gary Zell, a meteorologist at Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire, told a briefing that the “double-pipe system” is expected to bring four days of “critical fire time” with low humidity, high temperatures and gusts of more than 45 mph. in some areas.
Mark Defris, a spokesman for the incident management team that took control of the fire on Sunday, said winds were already reaching speeds of up to 40 miles per hour.
“Time is not our friend,” he said. “Winds [Monday] will come out west-northwest, potentially pushing that fire in the direction of Las Vegas.
The disappointment of the winds was palpable.
“The wind keeps changing – [from the] one day to the southwest, then to the northwest and then back to the southwest, ”Bales said.
As local authorities worried about what might happen in the next few days, Trujillo said there were still no mandatory evacuation orders for Las Vegas residents. But he noted that the city is preparing for this opportunity.
“We work hard around the clock to ensure that all services are ready for the public,” Trujillo said. “We expect the winds to travel south tomorrow [Monday]which will bring the fire closer to the city. “
Meanwhile, Gov. Michel Luhan Grisham met with community leaders and elected officials in Las Vegas on Sunday. A spokeswoman said they had discussed communication strategies and “the best operational framework to ensure that we get the right resources to meet the needs of each community”.
Getting help
As the fire engulfed even more people, state and local officials began organizing efforts to help. The Santa Fe Fire Department said Sunday that four engines will be in Las Vegas by Monday, as well as an ambulance, two commanders and up to 20 firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics.
According to a press release, local fire unions are coordinating donations to help farmers and ranchers in the area, including troughs, hay, bowls, crates and paper products. Donations – including Gatorade, hot cereals, diapers and personal care items – are taken to Siler Road Fire Station 5.
Preparations for the crisis became even more important as the scope of the fire grew, and those who had lost much of what they had found shelter in Las Vegas.
Charles Zurenko, head of a volunteer site for the American Red Cross evacuation shelter at Old Memorial High School, said the facility was not in the pre-evacuation zone. And if the needs get bigger, other places, including the Glorieta Adventure Camps facility, are considering additional shelter space. The site is already hosted by students from United World College in Montezuma.
“Glorieta is reserved by the state to provide housing for our citizens,” Trujillo said.
Equipped to accommodate 200 evacuees, the Old Memorial Middle School shelter housed an average of 27 people a night, Zurenko said.
This number may increase depending on the development of the fire. Late Sunday afternoon, officials added El Turquilo, Lucero and Rainesville to the sites on a mandatory evacuation order. Several roads in the area are closed or restricted to one-way traffic.
Andrew Vigil and his wife Anita Rivera, whose home between Rosiada and Sapello was destroyed by fire on April 22, could testify to the realities brought by Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire – and how important it is to get out while the exits are still available.
“We barely made it,” Vigil said. “We waited too long.”
The couple fled with their vehicles and their dog and had no insurance for the camper and the 400-square-foot supplement where they lived.
Estimates of new damage about 50 miles between Las Vegas and Mora were uncertain. Before Friday, the fire destroyed more than 160 homes, mainly in the areas of the villages of Rosiada and Pendaris in San Miguel County. Several more houses were destroyed Friday through Saturday in the El Porvenir and Galinas canyon area, although authorities have not yet been able to complete damage investigations and provide details.
Evacuated students from United World College had already moved to Glorieta on Saturday after spending the night at the University of New Mexico Highlands in Las Vegas. The school will not be held Monday for students from city schools in Las Vegas and schools in West Las Vegas.
Preparing for opportunities
Although Las Vegas Police Chief Anthony Salazar reiterated that the evacuation of the city was not underway, he said the ability of people in the area to see flames in the distance exposed the area to the brink.
“We can’t have any panic,” Salazar said. “We’re not stopping at the moment.”
Assuming the city’s residents are asked to evacuate, police will start knocking on neighborhood doors, he added.
Interim Las Vegas Fire Chief Steve Span asked residents not to use fire hydrants to protect their homes.
“It’s illegal,” Span said. “I have personnel defending our watershed, and we also have more crews coming.
City Utilities Director Maria Gilvari said the city’s drinking water supply has been tested many times. “So far, everything is fine and in abundance,” she said.
The Santa Fe National Forest also announced Sunday that the entire Pecos / Las Vegas Ranger area is closed to the public until December to protect public health and safety.
The Cooks Peak fire further north in Mora and Colfax counties was 59,000 acres and 69 percent contained, with little growth the day before.
In the Gemez mountains, the Cerro Pelado fire has risen by about 10,000 acres since Saturday to 17,885 and has been controlled by just 10 percent. The forest fire has so far destroyed three homes and is largely burning in the wake of the 2011 Las Conchas fire.
The Bandelier National Monument announced on Sunday that it was closing due to the fire.
A new estimate for the Skiles 429 fire, which sparked Friday in Union County on the Oklahoma border, reduced the area to 1,312 from 2,500 reported Saturday.
Cynthia Miller and James Barron contributed to this report.
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