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A4   U.S. NEWS
                       Tuesday 31 May 2022
             New Mexico wildfire scar burn has forest officials worried



            SANTA  FE,  N.M.  (AP)  —  As                                                                                       330  homes,  but  state  offi-
            more  than  3,000  firefight-                                                                                       cials expect the number of
            ers in northern New Mexico                                                                                          homes and other structures
            continued to battle the na-                                                                                         that have burned to rise to
            tion's largest active wildfire                                                                                      more  than  1,000  as  more
            Sunday,  federal  forest  of-                                                                                       assessments are done.
            ficials worried about future                                                                                        Elsewhere,  150  firefighters
            flash floods, landslides and                                                                                        continued to battle a wind-
            destructive  ash  from  the                                                                                         driven fire that has burned
            burn scar.                                                                                                          more than 8 ½ square miles
            The  7-week-old  fire,  the                                                                                         (22  square  kilometers)  of
            largest  in  New  Mexico  his-                                                                                      grass, brush and salt cedar
            tory,  remained  50%  con-                                                                                          at  the  Arizona-California
            tained  after  charring  492                                                                                        border.
            square  miles  (1,274  square                                                                                       The  fire  began  Thursday
            kilometers)  in  rugged  ter-                                                                                       on  the  Colorado  River  In-
            rain east of Santa Fe.                                                                                              dian  Reservation  14  miles
            Two planned burns merged                                                                                            (24 kilometers) southwest of
            to  form  the  massive  blaze                                                                                       Parker, Arizona.
            at  the  southern  tip  of  the                                                                                     Wind gusts of up to 30 mph
            Rocky  Mountains  in  the                                                                                           (48 kph) forced the evacu-
            Sangre de Cristo range.                                                                                             ations of 15 homes on both
            One  of  the  fires  was  pre-  Carson Hot Shots Tyler Freeman works to keep a burning log from rolling down a slope, Monday,   sides  of  the  river  Saturday
            viously  traced  to  April  6,   May 23, 2022, as he and his co-workers work on hot spots from the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire   and  pushed  the  44%  con-
            when  a  planned  burn  set   in the Carson National Forest west of Chacon, N.M.                                    tainment  figure  back  to
            by  U.S.  Forest  Service  fire-                                                                   Associated Press  34%.  However,  fire  officials
            fighters  to  clear  out  small                                                                                     said  the  evacuees  likely
            trees  and  brush  was  de-  range of recovery efforts.   He  said  that  could  signal  that some burned areas on  would be allowed to return
            clared out of control.       A  Forest  Service  Burned  an "extreme change in wa-     the New Mexico fire could  home  by  Sunday  evening.
            On Friday, investigators said  Area Emergency Response  tershed  response"  during  see  heavy  debris  flows  if  The  cause  of  the  wildfire
            they tracked the source of  team  has  started  publish-  monsoon season.              they  receive  about  .25  remained  under  investiga-
            the second fire to the rem-  ing  data  from  its  post-fire  Flooding  presents  another  inches of rain in 15 minutes.  tion.  In  Colorado,  air  tank-
            nants  of  a  planned  Janu-  assessments.                problem    for   communi-    Meanwhile,      firefighters  ers  and  helicopters  were
            ary  burn  that  lay  dormant  Micah Kiesow, team leader  ties  near  burn  scars  with  were hoping to make con-   helping fight a new wildfire
            through several snowstorms  and  a  soil  and  watershed  ash  flowing  into  rivers  and  tinued  progress  on  the  fire  burning in the southern part
            only  to  flare  up  again  last  program manager with the  streams,  according  to  Kie-  before the possible return of  of  the  state  Sunday,  the
            month.                       Santa  Fe  National  Forest,  sow.                        drier  and  warmer  weather  U.S. Forest Service said.
            Firefighting  costs  already  said steep mountain slopes  Many  water  treatment  fa-  with stronger winds through  The  fire,  18  miles  (29  kilo-
            surpass $132  million, climb-  had  acted  like  a  sponge  cilities  aren't  equipped  for  Monday.                meters)  west  of  Antonito,
            ing by $5 million a day, ac-  before the fire.            the  expensive,  time-inten-  "This  fire  has  a  lot  of  po-  was  reported  Saturday  in
            cording to authorities.      "Post-fire  in  some  of  these  sive process of filtering ash.  tential  left  in  it,"  said  Carl  a  small  subdivision  along
            New Mexico Gov. Michelle  areas,  especially  the  high  Experts say ash and debris  Schwope,  incident  com-       the  Conejos  River  and
            Lujan Grisham already has  soil burn severity areas and  can  harm  water  quality  mander  for  the  southwest  forced  the  evacuation  of
            asked  President  Joe  Biden  the  moderate,  we're  look-  with  high  levels  of  nitrates  fire  management  team  under 100 people north of
            to direct the Federal Emer-  ing  at  now  a  steep  slope  and phosphorus.            that  has  been  fighting  the  Colorado  17,  said  Gregg
            gency  Management  Ad-       that's  more  like  a  parking  A  hazard  assessment  from  wildfire for the past 52 days.  Goodland, a spokesperson
            ministration  to  pay  for  all  lot,"  Kiesow  told  the  Santa  the Forest Service and U.S.  Initial  estimates  show  the  for  the  Forest  Service's  Rio
            costs  related  to  a  broad  Fe New Mexican.             Geological  Survey  shows  fire  has  destroyed  at  least  Grande National Forest.q

             Workers vote to become first unionized Starbucks in Alabama



                                                                      BIRMINGHAM,  Ala.  (AP)  —  email seeking comment on  problem.
                                                                      Starbucks has until later this  whether  Starbucks  would  "There's a lot of racial issues
                                                                      week to file any objections  challenge  the  vote  —  the  that  we've  been  dealing
                                                                      with the National Labor Re-  latest in a series of wins for  with,  managers  purposely
                                                                      lations  Board  after  workers  labor  at  Starbucks  stores  cutting our hours, attacking
                                                                      at  a  shop  in  Birmingham  across the nation.           us  for  no  reason,"  she  told
                                                                      became  the  first  of  the  The  employees  had  the  al.com.  "A  lot  of  us  have
                                                                      company's locations in Ala-  backing  of  Birmingham  complained and the man-
                                                                      bama to vote to organize.    Mayor  Randall  Woodfin,  agers, they're just not hear-
                                                                      Baristas and other employ-   who  publicly  expressed  his  ing us out, or they're not re-
                                                                      ees  at  a  downtown  store  solidarity  with  the  workers.  ally  listening  to  us,  or  they
                                                                      voted  27-1  to  organize  in  Employees  who  support-   say  they're  listening  but
                                                                      a  tally  announced  Thurs-  ed  the  union  complained  they're not really listening."
                                                                      day,  news  outlets  report-  about  a  lack  of  respect  A Starbucks in Buffalo, New
                                                                      ed.  Documents  show  they  from management.              York,  became  the  first  in
                                                                      would  be  represented  by  Alex  Buford,  a  Starbucks  the United States to union-
            Starbucks employees and supporters react as votes are read   Workers  United  if  the  vote  employee  for  three  years  ize  late  last  year.  Based  in
            during a union-election watch party on Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021,   stands.               who transferred to the store  Seattle,  the  company  has
            in Buffalo, N.Y.                                          Company  officials  didn't  six  months  ago,  also  cited  more  than  34,000  stores
                                                     Associated Press
                                                                      immediately respond to an  racial  discrimination  as  a  worldwide.q
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