A fire in Southern California raced through multi-million mansions and the largest wildfire in the U.S. was spreading toward mountain resort towns in northern New Mexico.
A wildfire that erupted Wednesday afternoon in coastal Southern California raced through coastal bluffs of multimillion-dollar mansions, burning at least 20 homes, fire officials said. The flames were fanned by gusty ocean winds but they were dying down Wednesday night. No injuries were reported but several streets were ordered evacuated. Allie Rasmus reportsThe largest wildfire in the U.S.
Fennessy said climate change has made even small fires that once would have been easily contained into extreme threats to life and property throughout the West. Some aircraft were able to fly to drop retardant on the blaze despite winds gusting in some areas in excess of 45 mph . And some evacuation orders were relaxed along the southern flank of the fire near Las Vegas, New Mexico — more than 50 miles south of the flames on the northern perimeter.
After growing more than 50 square miles the day before, the fire had charred more than 370 square miles by Wednesday morning. Evacuations were ordered for villages south of the resort town of Angel Fire east of Taos, where residents were told to also be packed and ready to go. In winter, the challenging ski slopes just north of town draw people from around the world. Just last month, the Taos ski valley hosted the World Pro Ski Tour’s championship races. Art galleries, adobe churches and a rich history of Hispanic and Native American culture are the attractions in warmer months along with the aspen-covered biking and hiking trails that traverse the region.
"This is tough firefighting business right here," fire Incident Commander Dave Bales said in a briefing. "This is not easy, especially in the fuel types we’re in, in the Ponderosa pine, mixed conifer, even down into the grass. When we can’t fly aircraft, when we can’t get people on the direct edge of the fire, when it’s spotting over us, that’s a huge concern for us."
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