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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