“It’s not a small fire,” Las Vegas Mayor Louis Trujillo told a special City Council meeting Sunday. “This is the biggest disaster in the history of New Mexico – one of the biggest in US history.” The fire, which had risen to about 104,000 acres by Sunday morning, is currently not the largest in the state’s history and to date no deaths have been reported. But its proximity to Las Vegas and further north, Mora, places it in the league with the Whitewater-Baldy, Las Conchas and Cerro Grande fires – 21st century monster fires that changed landscapes and, in the case of Cerro Grande, communities for decades. Officials late Saturday speculated that the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires – reportedly limited by 30 percent despite the 1,000 staff at the scene – would at least double in size. It was an estimate that hardly surprised anyone in the state of San Miguel and Mora County, where smoke was always present and mandatory evacuation orders piled up throughout the day. By Sunday afternoon, locations on the outskirts of Las Vegas, including Mineral Hill and Montezuma, appeared to be on the potential trail. The 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. “This is a big fight,” said Dave Bales, the fire chief who handled the blaze Sunday night. The relentless constant in everything was the wind. It blew non-stop all Sunday and seems unlikely to even offer a hint of relief until Wednesday. Gary Zell, a meteorologist for the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire, said in a statement that a “double barrel system” is expected to bring four days of “critical fire time” with low humidity, high temperatures and gusts of over 45 mph at some areas. Mark Defries, a spokesman for the incident management team that took over the fire on Sunday, said the winds were already reaching speeds of up to 40 mph. “The weather was not our friend,” he said. “Winds [Monday] they are going to come out of the west-northwest, something that potentially pushes this fire in the direction of Las Vegas “. Disappointment with the winds was evident. “The wind is constantly changing – [from the] “One day southwest, then northwest and then back to the southwest,” Bales said. As local officials worried about what might happen in the coming days, Trujillo said there were still no mandatory evacuation orders for Las Vegas residents. However, he noted that the city is preparing for the eventuality. “We work hard around the clock to make sure all services are available to the public,” Trujillo said. “We expect the winds to travel south tomorrow [Monday]which will push the fire closer to the city “. Meanwhile, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham met with community leaders and elected officials in Las Vegas on Sunday. A spokeswoman said they discussed communication strategies and “the best operational framework to ensure we receive the appropriate resources to meet the needs of each community”.
I’m getting help
With the fire affecting even more people, state and local officials began making efforts to help. The Santa Fe Fire Department said Sunday that by Monday, four engines will be in Las Vegas, as well as an ambulance, two commanders and up to 20 firefighters, emergency technicians and paramedics. According to a press release, local firefighters were coordinating donations to help farmers and ranchers in the area, including troughs, hay, bowls, boxes and paper products. Donations – such as Gatorade, hot cereals, diapers and toiletries – are received at Fire Station 5 on Siler Road. Preparing for a crisis became even more important as the scale of the fire grew and so did those who had lost many of those who had taken refuge in Las Vegas. Charles Zurenko, a volunteer site supervisor for the American Red Cross evacuation shelter at Old Memorial Middle School, said the facility was not in the pre-evacuation zone. And if the needs get bigger, other places, including the Glorieta Adventure Camps, are being considered for extra shelter. The site is already hosting students from United World College in Montezuma. “Glorieta is committed by the state to provide housing for our citizens,” Trujillo said. Equipped to house 200 displaced people, the Old Memorial Middle School shelter accommodates an average of 27 people a night, Zurenko said. This number could increase, depending on how the fire develops. Late Sunday afternoon, officials added El Turquillo, Lucero and Rainsville to the sites with a mandatory evacuation order. Many roads in the area are closed or limited to one-way streets. Andrew Vigil and his wife, Anita Rivera, whose house between Rociada and Sapello was destroyed by fire on April 22, could confirm the realities of Hermits Peak and the Calf Canyon Fire – and the importance of getting out. while the exits were still available. “We just did it,” Vigil said. “We waited more or less.” The couple escaped with their vehicles and their dog and had no security for the camp and 400 square feet where they lived. The estimate of the new disaster at about 50 miles between Las Vegas and Mora was uncertain. As of Friday, the fire had destroyed more than 160 homes, mostly in Rociada and Pendaries Village areas of San Miguel County. Several more houses were destroyed from Friday to Saturday in the El Porvenir and Gallinas Canyon area, although officials have not yet been able to complete the damage investigation and provide details. The evacuated students from United World College had already moved to Glorieta on Saturday after spending a night at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. The school will not be in session Monday for students at Las Vegas City Schools and West Las Vegas Schools.
Preparing for odds
Although Las Vegas Police Chief Anthony Salazar reiterated that the evacuation of the city is not in progress, he said that the ability of people in the area to see flames from afar puts the area in a difficult position. “We can not have any kind of panic,” Salazar said. “We are not closing anything at the moment.” Assuming the townspeople are called to evacuate, police will start knocking on doors in neighborhoods, he added. The interim chief of the Las Vegas Fire Department, Steve Span, urged residents not to use fire hydrants to protect their homes. “It’s illegal,” Span said. “I have staff protecting our catchment area and we also have more crews coming.” City Utilities Director Maria Gilvarry said the city’s drinking water supply has been checked repeatedly. “So far, so good and plentiful,” he said. Santa Fe National Park 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 reduced, with little growth from a day earlier. In the Jemez Mountains, the Cerro Pelado fire had risen about 10,000 acres since Saturday, to 17,885, and was reduced by only 10%. The fire has so far destroyed three houses and largely burned in the trail of the Las Conchas fire in 2011. The Bandelier National Monument announced on Sunday that it was closed due to the fire. A new estimate for the Skiles 429 fire, which broke out in Union County on Friday along the Oklahoma border, reduced the area to 1,312 from 2,500 reported Saturday. Cynthia Miller and James Barron contributed to this report.
