A massive wildfire that has burned more than 265 square miles in
the Gila National Forest has become the largest fire in New
Mexico history, fire officials confirmed Wednesday. The erratic
blaze grew overnight to more than 170,000 acres, surpassing a
fire last year that burned 156,593 acres in Los Conchas and
threatened the Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the
nation's premier nuclear facilities. Experts says the mammoth
fire may be just a preview of what's to come in part of the
western United States after months of drought and dry
conditions. The Gila forest fire also is the largest burning in
the country. It formed last week when two lightning-sparked
blazes merged in an isolated mountainous area in southwestern
New Mexico, where it has destroyed about a dozen homes and
prompted evacuations of nearby towns and health alerts for some
of the state's largest cities. Fire information officer Jerry
Perry said about 1,200 firefighters from around the state were
battling the growing blaze, but that they con