Driven by high winds, brittle conditions and lightning strikes, wildfires expand and continue to rage across swaths of the US Southwest and the Midwest
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Pastor Dale Morgan
May 30, 2012, 11:09:13 PM5/30/12
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Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Driven by high winds, brittle conditions and lightning strikes, wildfires expand and continue to rage across swaths of the US Southwest and the Midwest
U.S. Forest Service, via Associated Press
More than 1,200 firefighters are trying to halt the Whitewater-Baldy Complex blaze, which was set off by lightning strikes in New Mexico. It has become the largest wildfire in the state’s history.
By DAN FROSCH
Published: May 30, 2012
DENVER — Driven by high winds, brittle conditions and lightning strikes, wildfires raged across swaths of the Southwest and the Midwest on Wednesday, the latest rash of blazes in what has already been an especially volatile fire season.
In southwestern New Mexico, more than 1,200 firefighters were battling a large fire in the Gila National Forest that was sparked by a pair of lightning strikes and has since burned 170,272 acres.
Fire officials said on Wednesday that the fire, named the Whitewater-Baldy Complex blaze, was still burning completely unchecked and was now the largest in state history. The previous record was set last year, when the Las Conchas fire burned more than 150,000 acres near Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“We’re very concerned,” said Gerry Perry, a fire information officer with the United States Forest Service. “The weather is certainly not working to our advantage. We are in the single digits with relative humidity, which really complicates firefighting efforts. If you get a spark that flies forward and lands in vegetation, then you’re going to have spot fires.”
So far the blaze has burned 12 homes and 8 other structures, leading to evacuations in the small communities of Mogollon and Willow Creek, Mr. Perry said.
Smoke from the fire could be seen throughout New Mexico — as far north as Santa Fe and as far south as Las Cruces — prompting the state’s Environment and Health Departments to issue an air quality advisory for the entire state on May 24.
Firefighters had better progress with blazes farther north. About 2,000 miles away, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the third-largest fire in that state’s history has burned more than 21,000 acres since May 23 after a lightning strike.
The fire has damaged 41 homes in a rural region north of Newberry, an area near Lake Superior that is popular with tourists, particularly during the summer, said Ada Takacs, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Recent rains are aiding firefighting efforts, Ms. Takacs said, and the blaze is 55 percent contained. Tahquamenon Falls State Park, which had been closed because of the fire, reopened on Wednesday.
In Colorado, firefighters were working to contain two smaller fires, whipped by unusually dry conditions and high winds around the Rockies.
The Sunrise Mine Fire has burned about 6,000 acres near the Utah border, fire officials said. And the Little Sand Fire, near Pagosa Springs, has burned nearly 4,000 acres.
Driven by high winds, brittle conditions and lightning strikes, wildfires expand and continue to rage across swaths of the US Southwest and the Midwest
U.S. Forest Service, via Associated Press
More than 1,200 firefighters are trying to halt the Whitewater-Baldy Complex blaze, which was set off by lightning strikes in New Mexico. It has become the largest wildfire in the state’s history.
By DAN FROSCH
Published: May 30, 2012
DENVER — Driven by high winds, brittle conditions and lightning strikes, wildfires raged across swaths of the Southwest and the Midwest on Wednesday, the latest rash of blazes in what has already been an especially volatile fire season.
In southwestern New Mexico, more than 1,200 firefighters were battling a large fire in the Gila National Forest that was sparked by a pair of lightning strikes and has since burned 170,272 acres.
Fire officials said on Wednesday that the fire, named the Whitewater-Baldy Complex blaze, was still burning completely unchecked and was now the largest in state history. The previous record was set last year, when the Las Conchas fire burned more than 150,000 acres near Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“We’re very concerned,” said Gerry Perry, a fire information officer with the United States Forest Service. “The weather is certainly not working to our advantage. We are in the single digits with relative humidity, which really complicates firefighting efforts. If you get a spark that flies forward and lands in vegetation, then you’re going to have spot fires.”
So far the blaze has burned 12 homes and 8 other structures, leading to evacuations in the small communities of Mogollon and Willow Creek, Mr. Perry said.
Smoke from the fire could be seen throughout New Mexico — as far north as Santa Fe and as far south as Las Cruces — prompting the state’s Environment and Health Departments to issue an air quality advisory for the entire state on May 24.
Firefighters had better progress with blazes farther north. About 2,000 miles away, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the third-largest fire in that state’s history has burned more than 21,000 acres since May 23 after a lightning strike.
The fire has damaged 41 homes in a rural region north of Newberry, an area near Lake Superior that is popular with tourists, particularly during the summer, said Ada Takacs, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Recent rains are aiding firefighting efforts, Ms. Takacs said, and the blaze is 55 percent contained. Tahquamenon Falls State Park, which had been closed because of the fire, reopened on Wednesday.
In Colorado, firefighters were working to contain two smaller fires, whipped by unusually dry conditions and high winds around the Rockies.
The Sunrise Mine Fire has burned about 6,000 acres near the Utah border, fire officials said. And the Little Sand Fire, near Pagosa Springs, has burned nearly 4,000 acres.
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