Firefighters Battling New Mexico Blaze Brace for Wind

Firefighters Battling New Mexico Blaze Brace for Wind
A Cochiti Fire Department vehicle heads towards a plume of smoke from the Cerro Pelado Fire burning in the Jemez Mountains, in in Cochiti, N.M., on April 29, 2022. Robert Browman//The Albuquerque Journal via AP
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Over 1,000 firefighters backed by bulldozers and aircraft battled the largest active wildfire in the United States, after strong winds had pushed it across some containment lines and closer to a small city in northern New Mexico.

Calmer winds on Saturday aided the firefighting effort after gusts accelerated the fire’s advance to a point on Friday when “we were watching the fire march about a mile every hour,” said Jayson Coil, a fire operations official.