Firefighters rested under an apocalyptic orange sky and vehicles streamed out of Angel Fire, New Mexico, on Wednesday as the largest active U.S. wildfire advanced on the ski resort and nearby town of Taos.
With winds gusting beyond 50 mph through dense, drought-parched forests, exhausted crews were at loss to stop a wildfire that has raged across a 45-mile swath of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains for more than a month, destroying hundreds of homes.
The Sangre de Cristo mountains, soaring to over 13,000 feet, have traditionally seen spring storms dumping more than 2 feet of snow. But climate change has diminished the snowpack and brought summer-like temperatures earlier in the year, biologists say, drying out the region and leaving communities more vulnerable to fire.
To the north, residents of Taos Canyon cut down their own trees to create fire buffers around homes. About 4 miles farther west of downtown Taos - the heart of an area inhabited by indigenous people for 1,000 years - residents were advised to be ready to evacuate on short notice. Although unseasonably warm temperatures and extreme low humidity will persist in the days ahead, winds that have howled with gale-force strength for nearly a week are expected to subside on Friday, giving firefighters a bit of a respite, forecasters said.
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