The blaze, dubbed the Calf Canyon Wildfire, had burned more than 41,682 hectares, more than half the area of New York City, as of Monday morning, according to US Forest Service officials in New Mexico.
It was 30% contained on Monday as it scorched parched vegetation northwest of the town of 13,000.
The blaze, the largest active forest fire in the United States, is the most destructive of a dozen blazes in the Southwest that scientists say are more widespread and coming earlier this year due to climate change. climatic.
“It’s extremely smoky in here. Lots of smoke and ash falling,” San Miguel County Deputy Executive Jesus Romero said in a Reuters interview. “The winds are starting to pick up now and we’re starting to get a lot more wind.”
Forecasters issued a red flag warning that fires could start and spread easily, for the area where winds of 50 miles per hour and humidity as low as 5% were expected through Monday.
Several hundred homes in the northwest corner of the city were told to evacuate immediately Monday morning, San Miguel County said in an alert.
“This emerging situation remains extremely serious and refusing to evacuate could be a fatal decision,” the county said.
Another 4,000 to 5,000 people have been asked to be ready to evacuate immediately, Romero said.
Crews bulldozed firebreaks north and west of the historic college town to protect ranches, rural homes and the United World College.
Residents of the nearby communities of Ledoux, Mora and Cleveland were told to evacuate on Sunday as strong gusts of wind pushed the fire near their Mountain Valley communities.
Burning since April 6, the blaze has destroyed hundreds of properties and forced the evacuation of dozens of communities in the Sangre de Cristo mountains, but has yet to claim any casualties.