Two wildfires raging in New Mexico, the United States, became the largest forest fire in the state's history after being linked last month, and have not yet been extinguished.The cause of the forest fires has attracted much attention, and the U.S. Forest Service admitted on the 27th that the two forest fires were ignited by the Forest Service, which shocked many people.
Manual ignition out of control
According to the Associated Press, two wildfires occurred in the southern Rocky Mountains, east of New Mexico's capital, Santa Fe.One of the forest fires began to burn in January, and it seemed to be extinguished and then repeated, and it burned again on April 19; another forest fire broke out on April 6.The two forest fires merged in series on April 22. So far, the fire area has approached 1,300 square kilometers, which is equivalent to the area of the entire New York City.
The investigation revealed that the U.S. Forest Service originally intended to control the burning of shrubs and litter to reduce the risk of wildfires during the dry season.Instead, the Forest Service's artificially lit fires, instead of reducing the chance of wildfires, ignited the most raging wildfires in New Mexico's history.
The U.S. government announced a $50 billion plan to prevent wildfires in January this year. The measures include at least doubling the number of logging and artificial fires to reduce the amount of vegetation in mountain areas.In some vast areas, the speed of felling trees is too slow, and the forestry department prefers to take artificial fire measures and "burn them at once".
"I haven't seen such a big wildfire in 71 years"
Two bushfires have destroyed at least 330 homes and forced the emergency evacuation of thousands of residents.
Local resident Barbara Curr said in an interview with CNN: "I have lived for 71 years and have never seen such a big, serious wildfire."
The White House said in a statement a few days ago that wildfires in New Mexico began on April 5 and continued, causing "major disasters."
The fire is still raging, and about 3,000 firefighters continue to fight the blaze.Total firefighting spending is estimated to have exceeded $132 million.Every additional day means an additional $5 million in firefighting spending.
"It's been a nightmare," said Travis Regensberger, a contractor involved in the firefighting in New Mexico. "We were so hard. I've been working on it for 17 days straight, sleeping only three or four hours a day, for the It's to protect the people who live here."
Government 'takes full responsibility'
New Mexico Governor Michelle Luhan Grisham said in a statement on the 27th: "The U.S. Forest Service was supposed to help us manage this land, but now it is causing immeasurable pain and suffering to the people of New Mexico. ."
Grisham believes that the US federal government "has full responsibility" for the tragedy and that the federal government should "100% pay" for all kinds of post-disaster reconstruction costs.
Some members of Congress and public figures also expressed concern and dissatisfaction with the New Mexico wildfires and their causes.
U.S. Forest Service Administrator Randy Moore announced last week that artificial ignitions would be discontinued for 90 days to reassess procedures.He mentioned the fire risk and adverse weather conditions at the time, but did not say whether the decision was related to the New Mexico wildfires.
About 300,000 acres (121,400 hectares) of land have been burned in New Mexico this year, CNN reported, more than the area burned by wildfires in the state over the past two years combined.
Wildfire season in the U.S. Southwest usually begins in May or June, but this year it came earlier due to high winds, widespread drought and dry vegetation.In late April, more than 12 large-scale wildfires were burning simultaneously in the mountains and plains of the southwestern United States.Of the states, New Mexico has the worst wildfires.(Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency news)
