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WEKU
WEKU
National
Eric Westervelt

New Mexico wildfire sparks backlash against controlled burns. That's bad for the West

A satellite image shows a natural color view of active fire lines from the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon fires, near Las Vegas, New Mexico, on May 11. (MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/REUTERS)

Northern New Mexico's still raging wildfire—now the largest in that state's modern history—did not start out as entirely wild.

The wind-fueled blaze partly began as an intentional or prescribed U.S. Forest Service burn near picturesque Hermits Peak outside of Las Vegas, N.M. Such fires are set to thin forests of built-up fuel, restore forest health and prevent much bigger fires.

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