At least one dead in New Mexico wildfires, thousands evacuated

One fatality has been confirmed as a result of central New Mexico wildfires, according to a Wednesday report by the Associated Press that cited Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office. The South Fork Fire and the Salt Fires prompted an estimated 8,000 people to evacuate and damaged roughly 1,400 structures as of Tuesday evening, according to the New Mexico Forestry Division. The fires had burned about 20,000 acres with zero percent containment so far, Grisham said at a Tuesday night press conference.

The fires prompted Grisham to declare a state of emergency in Lincoln County and the Mescalero Apache Reservation on Tuesday. The government is deploying every available resource to quell the wildfires and support the Ruidoso village and the reservation, among other areas, she said. Authorities have not confirmed how the fires were sparked.

What about the rest of the United States? Dozens of areas across the central and northeastern United States are expecting record heat, according to the National Weather Service. About 80 million people across the New England region and into Indiana were under heat advisories and warnings on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Readings are predicted to be much higher than what’s normally expected, even during the hottest part of the summer, the NWS posted.