Wildfires in US southwest kill one, force thousands to flee
At least one person has died and three firefighters have been injured after massive wildfires spread across the southwestern region of the United States.
The wildfires burnt up over 120,000 acres of land, primarily in New Mexico, Nebraska and Arizona, authorities said on Sunday.
A retired fire chief from Cambridge, 66-year-old John Trumble, was killed in Nebraska while he was fighting off a blaze in Red Willow County, the Associated Press reported.
At least three large fires were reported as active in the US state as of Sunday afternoon, according to the Fire, Weather and Avalanche Center.
On Saturday evening, the Nebraska State Patrol said it was working to battle fires in several areas across the southwestern part of the state.
The Nebraska national guard deployed three helicopters and several support trucks to assist the firefighters and Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) activated 32 personnel to help with emergency operations.
In Arizona, nearly 615 personnel were fighting the Crooks Fire near Prescott, which has spread to over 3,000 acres.
Authorities deployed several fire engines, helicopters and other firefighting equipment to battle the wildfire.
The Tunnel Fire near Flagstaff, Ariz., which is only nearly 3 percent contained, has spread to over 20,000 acres, according to the US Forest Service in Coconino National Forest.
In New Mexico, the Cooks Peak fire burn over 51,000 acres in San Miguel County and, as of Sunday, was zero percent contained.
Evacuation centers were set up at a few centers across the region as the conflagration forced thousands to flee mountain villages.
Meanwhile, two wildfires merged northwest of Las Vegas, destroying over 200 buildings, state authorities said.
The Calf Canyon fire combined with the Hermit Peak blaze near Gallinas Canyon, burning more than 54,000 acres, according to a government database on disasters. The merged fire is about 12 percent contained.
"We have a longer, more dangerous and more dramatic fire season ahead of us," New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told reporters.
She has declared a state of emergency in Mora, Colfax, Lincoln, San Miguel, and Valencia counties.
With climate change having lowered winter snowpacks, larger and more extreme fires started earlier in the year, according to scientists.
The wildfires, which are the most severe of almost two dozen in the US south-west, indicate that the region is in for a brutal fire year.
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