美联社
LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — Firefighters in New Mexico took advantage of diminished winds Thursday to build more fire lines and clear combustible brush near homes close to the fringes of the largest wildfire burning in the U.S. They did so ahead of what is expected to be several consecutive days of intense hot, dry and extremely windy weather that could fan the blaze.
一名火灾行为分析师丹·皮尔森（Dan Pearson）在美国森林服务局和执法部门的夜间更新中说：“今天的情况有点适度。”“明天将是另一个美好的一天。”
But Pearson warned that starting Saturday, clear skies will bring more intense solar heat accompanied by 30 mph (48 kph) winds with days of high winds to follow.
这场大火在落基山脉的南端越过258平方英里（669平方公里）的高山森林和草原，摧毁了数十所房屋，并促使成千上万的家庭撤离，其中许多人称为Sangre de Cristo Mountains自从他们的西班牙祖先最初定居该地区以来，几个世纪前就回家了。
President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration that brings new financial resources to the areas devastated by fire since early April. The aid includes grants for temporary housing and low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other relief programs for people and businesses.
州长米歇尔·卢扬·格里舍姆（Michelle Lujan Grisham）周三和周四穿越了新墨西哥州北部，调查了人道主义厨房，疏散庇护所和小学的受影响居民的损害和聊天。
The start of the conflagration has been traced in part to a preventive fire initiated by the U.S. Forest Service to reduce flammable vegetation. The blaze escaped control, merging with another wildfire of unknown origin.
U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, who accompanied Lujan on a helicopter flight to view affected areas and meet with fire officials, on Thursday pressed a top Forest Service official to fully investigate the decision to start the “controlled burn” and disclose whether the agency considered the effects of climate change and a mega-drought afflicting western states.
“What protocols or controls were in place to make sure a controlled burn does not get out of hand? Did the U.S. Forest Service follow these protocols,” the congresswoman wrote to Forest Service Chief Randy Moore.
现在持续数周的撤离对居民造成了身体和情感上的伤害。一周的地区学校取消了课程，由于工作人员的短缺，东北城市小城市拉斯维加斯的一些企业已经关闭，并且一些服务周围地区的电动合作社客户已经有几周的电源了。
San Miguel County Sheriff Chris Lopez said firetrucks, a fleet of aircraft and other equipment have been brought in to the area to corral the flames and “we’re ready for anything that does come.”
但是现在还为时过早，让人们返回较早燃烧的外围区域，因为有很多未燃烧的刷子和树木可以用作火灾外围大火的燃料。
“We’ve come to this crossroads on a few different occasions, where we were feeling good about it and we come up to a wind event and it hasn’t went as planned,” Lopez said.
最近几天，相对平静和凉爽的天气使消防员在转移的前部进行了检查。
周四，推土机刮擦了更多的火线，而工作人员进行了控制燃烧以清除植被并防止其点燃。飞机还放下了更多的阻燃剂，以准备本周末预测的大风。
阿尔伯克基（Albuquerque）的国家气象局气象学家托德·舒马克（Todd Shoemake）说，预计周六下午，周六下午，阵风将达到45英里 /小时（72公里），湿度高于正常的温度，这会导致极端的火灾危险。“周日和星期一可能会变得更糟。”
Nearly 1,300 firefighters and other personnel were assigned to fight the fire, while about 2,000 wildland firefighters are battling other blazes elsewhere in New Mexico and around the U.S.
Officials at Los Alamos National Laboratory were warily tracking another wildfire that crept within about 5 miles (8 kilometers) of facilities at the U.S. nuclear research complex.
Wildfires have become a year-round threat in the drought-stricken West — moving faster and burning hotter than ever due to climate change, according to scientists and fire experts. Fire officials also point to overgrown areas where vegetation can worsen wildfire conditions.
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美联社writer Susan Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Associated Press writers Anita Snow and Paul Davenport in Phoenix and Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, New Mexico, contributed to this report.
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