More than 10,000 people have had to evacuate their homes after massive fires tore through centuries-old villages.
The United States Forest Service (USFS) has confirmed that one of the fires in New Mexico spiraled out of control early last month and then merged with another, becoming the second-largest in the world. state history.
Daniel Encinias standing next to his camping trailer at an evacuation site in New Mexico on Tuesday said he will rebuild his burned-out home.
Encinias, 55, using the popular regional term for USFS, said: “We had to relocate because of something done by forestry. “All I’m saying is fixing what’s messed up…”
Encinias was among more than 10,000 evacuees from a fire that tore through centuries-old villages in the Sangre de Cristo mountains 48 kilometers (30 mi) northeast of Santa Fe and burned down the house Encinias built since head.
Like the others camping nearby, a trailer and truck were all things Encinias had left. He has no home insurance. He is relying on help from his extended family and community.
He, his wife, three children, four dogs, and eight cats were crammed into a trailer at Storrie Lake State Park, where he planned to host his daughter’s high school graduation party.
New Mexico fires are part of dozens of flames currently burning in the southwestern United States. Experts say climate change is to cause Forest fires to become more popular and widespread in the United States.
Based on statistics compiled by the National Interagency Fire Center, there are currently 12 unexplained fires in 5 US states that are burning 112,977 hectares (279,172 acres) of land. The majority of the affected area was in New Mexico with six fires covering 95,439 hectares (235,835 acres).
On TuesdayNew Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham asked President Joe Biden signed an ordinance on disaster compensation for families and restoration of watershed forests.
“You have a federal government who certainly bears some of the blame for the situation we are in,” said Lujan Grisham.
The fire further strained relations with the US government in villages that saw Spanish colonial land grants stolen by 19th-century American speculators and forest uses. of ancestry is restricted by USFS.
A spokesman for the USFS Santa Fe National Forest, where the fire started, did not respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The second fire the burn was associated with is under investigation.
In the past, homeowners have sued government agencies for controlled burns that went wrong. People who have lost their homes also often receive payments through an emergency fund.
Fires in one of America’s poorest states are raging in two counties where household incomes are half the national average. Paula Garcia, head of a state irrigation association, said many of the homes lost were trailers on family land alongside older brick homes.
At Tuesday’s fire briefing in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Mayor Louie Trujillo raged when officials described the burned homes as “architectural” and said staff Firefighters are protecting a centuries-old “herencia” or property.
“That land is spiritual, those houses are spiritual, it is sacred land,” Trujillo said. The fire threatens the historic city of Trujillo of 14,000 people as well as villages more than 48 kilometers (30 miles) to the north.
Back in the state park, Michael Salazar said he fled with a truck and trailer from a fire that destroyed 10 of his 11 homes in his Tierra Monte area. He associates destruction with controlled burns.
“I just want the government to stand up and say, ‘Yes, we do these things for a reason, they’re out of control and we’ll try to help you,'” Salazar, 55, said as the helicopter landed. Firefighters flew over a nearby lake to fill it with water.
