Winds fuel New Mexico wildfire, complicating containment efforts

The cause of the Calf Canyon Fire is under investigation.A crew of 1,685 personnel and a large aircraft fleet — including four water scoopers and 12 helicopters — are working feverishly to combat the fierce blaze, which has a perimeter stretching roughly 300 miles.“Right now, we are in this multiday wind event and we have our resources deployed to take on fire in areas where it’s being most aggressive at pushing on the actual perimeter of the fire or threatening communities,” De Fries told The Post on Sunday.“The fire definitely is pushing to grow, and we’re just trying to protect the communities and limit the growth,” he added.The winds have pushed the fire toward rural communities north of Las Vegas, De Fries said, with more evacuation alerts issued there Sunday afternoon. Las Vegas, the most densely populated area in the fire’s vicinity, has seen some evacuation orders lifted as containment efforts have reduced the threats to that city.But with high winds creating erratic fire behavior expected to last several days, many people who have been out of their homes for weeks may be asked to continue to do so for days.The strong winds overlapping with dry air, low humidity and above-average temperatures created what the National Weather Service described as “dangerous conditions” on Sunday.