Firefighters battling a half-dozen wildfires in the Southwest are bracing for the return of ferocious winds
Two firefighters monitor hot spots from a wildfire burning on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Ariz., Thursday, April 21, 2022. FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — — Firefighters are bracing for the return of ferocious winds in the Southwest after a brief reprieve allowed them to attack flames from the air for the first time in days as a half-dozen large wildfires continue to grow in Arizona and New Mexico.
Sheriff’s deputies called for additional evacuations Thursday of scattered homes and closed some roads at a big fire burning in a rural area southeast of Taos, New Mexico, where no structure damage has been reported.“There is high confidence that a widespread extreme and catastrophic fire weather event will occur on Friday,” Santa Fe National Forest officials said late Thursday.
“This is not typical,” he said, looking ahead to what he said could be potentially explosive fire growth on Friday. “This is really one of those days we need to be on our toes and we need to be ready.” Wildfire has become a year-round threat in the West given changing conditions that include earlier snowmelt and rain coming later in the fall, scientist have said. The problems are exacerbated by decades of fire suppression and poor forest management along with a more than 20-year megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change.
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