Crews make gains against New Mexico wildfire, largest in US
By PAUL DAVENPORT
Associated Press
Crews are making progress in stopping the nation’s largest active wildfire from spreading. Progress on Monday came on the fourth straight day of warnings of extreme fire conditions in northern New Mexico. The nearly 8-week-old fire was surrounded by containment lines cut and scraped around half of of its perimeter enclosing 493 square miles of forested mountains and foothills east of Santa Fe. Nearly 3,000 firefighters and other personnel were assigned to the blaze, the largest in New Mexico’s recorded history. Officials said crews in recent days were able to extinguish hot spots and allow only minimal growth,.