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The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fire continue to spread up north, and now parts of Las Vegas are preparing to evacuate.
The Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak Fire continue to evolve. As of Sunday night, the fire has burned more than 116,000 acres and is only about 30 percent contained.
"Friday's wind event outpaced any of our production rates. We saw a little more than 30 thousand acres of growth last night," said Carl Schwope, the incident commander for the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fire.
I just read a long-term forecast for May that shows much warmer than average temps for the southwest, especially AZ and NM. May is also usually dry in the region, so this is not a good outlook for wildfires. I would not want to be downwind from the fire zone, as the air is likely loaded with smoke and ash particles.
I drove across the Texas Panhandle Tuesday and it was smoky until you got into New Mexico, then cleared up. The fires are not evident at that distance. The blowing dust was contributing to the mix.
The new Bear Trap fire west of Socorro is also visible on that satellite view. I saw that plume driving to Albuquerque yesterday. There was a lot of drift smoke on the northern horizon. Signs warned of dense smoke but there wasn't any south of ABQ. I imagine it only gets worse north though.
Firefighters are doing their jobs well, despite the winds. Watershed is safe, and 100,000 acres would only be a massive amount it it burned that much overnight. Fire is weeks old. Vegas is safe, though some outlying homes that are technically within city limits may burn, so the headline will be "las vegas on fire." Drama drama sell newspapers.
Nothing new, firefighters to some extent are letting certain areas just burn, because there is too much fuel in the forests. Common firefighting tactic. Rather than waste time and manpower on forest areas that will burn anyway some day, they are focusing on protecting populated areas.
I drove down to Santa Fe from Colorado yesterday. The smoke started just north of Wagon Mound, and continued just past Las Vegas. In the Las Vegas area the smoke was nearly unbearable. I feel bad for the people living there. I think if I were there, even if I was not on evacuation status, I would go. No way could you live in that smoke for long. Hopefully it is not always like that (depending on the weather conditions). I could see a firefighter camp set up north of Las Vegas, with lots of tents and heavy equipment, and also saw various fire vehicles on the side roads as I drove through.
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