New Mexico, Colorado parks to close Thursday as wildfires rage

Federal officials said on Tuesday that Santa Fe and Carson National Forests would close Thursday as early-season wildfires burn in New Mexico and Colorado.

The New Mexico parkland would be off limits as a precaution as the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Fire burns along the southern end of the Rocky Mountains, known as the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, federal fire incident spokesman Renette Saba said.

The blaze was burning about 100 miles east-northeast of Santa Fe.

Parts of Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands were expected to close Thursday, as the Black Fire surges about 100 miles south-west of Albuquerque, U.S. Forest Service officials said.

Michelle Lujan Grisham declared the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Fire the state's largest ever. The state and federal officials said it was more than 299,560 acres. It has surpassed the 2012 Whitewater-Baldy Fire.

The fire grew by nearly 100,000 acres, about half its size on May 10, and it is expected to surpass 300,000 acres in a week, according to Saba.

State Forester Laura McCarthy said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon, "I don't want to give New Mexicans false hopes that the Calf Canyon Hermits Peak Fire will be contained some time soon." She said the Black Fire, which grew by an estimated 37,000 acres from Sunday to Monday, was going to be put under federal management as a major fire incident Wednesday.

The blaze, which started May 13th, has spread to more than 56,000 acres, federal officials said. Its cause was under investigation. Residents of the Lookout Mountain area were ordered to evacuate as a precaution.

As the fire season gets an early start, New Mexicans should be prepared for possible evacuations throughout the summer, according to Grisham.

The Hermits Peak Fire started April 6 when a prescribed burn got out of control. It was merged with the Calf Canyon Fire on April 22, which started three days earlier. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.

On May 4, President Joe Biden declared major disaster status for New Mexico, which connects fire victims to federal aid for recovery, including rebuilding where necessary.

Federal officials estimated that a fourth of the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Fire was surrounded Tuesday.

The number of structures that have been burnt is unknown, according to Saba, the incident spokesman.

A San Miguel County official said last month that nearly 300 structures, including 166 homes, had burned during the Hermits Peak Fire phase.

Residents of San Miguel, Mora, Taos and Colfax counties were told Tuesday to stay on high alert in case mandatory evacuations were ordered. Nearly 2,100 firefighters and support staff were assigned to the fire, officials said.

In Colorado, firefighters were grappling with the High Park Fire, which was measured Tuesday morning at more than 1,500 acres, with 37 percent containment, federal officials said.

The fire was about 45 miles west of Colorado Springs. The evacuation of about 560 homes has been forced by the blaze, according to officials in Teller County.

400,000 acres have been burned in 11 large active fires, most of them in the Southwest, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Its estimate of 1.3 million acres burned this year far exceeds the 10 year average of 753,855 acres burned by this time on the calendar, it said.

The center blamed people who inadvertently start wildland fires, often through carelessness, because of the warmer, drier weather in the Southwest.