{"id":40084,"date":"2022-06-11T18:38:51","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T00:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-residents-sue-for-information-on-massive-wildfire\/"},"modified":"2022-06-12T00:38:51","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T00:38:51","slug":"new-mexico-residents-sue-for-information-on-massive-wildfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-residents-sue-for-information-on-massive-wildfire\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico residents sue for information on massive wildfire"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Smoke
Smoke from the Calf Canyon\/Hermit Peak Fire drifts over Las Vegas, N.M., on May 7. New Mexico residents are suing the U.S. Forest Service for information about a massive wildfire that\u2019s been burning in the state since late April. The agency has been criticized for its role in causing two wildfires that merged to become the largest blaze in New Mexico history. (Robert Browman\/The Albuquerque Journal via AP file)<\/span>Robert Browman<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SANTA FE \u2013 Dozens of residents in a small New Mexico community impacted by massive wildfires that merged in April are suing the U.S. Forest Service over what they called a failure to provide information about the government\u2019s role in starting the blazes.<\/p>\n

The Forest Service has acknowledged that two prescribed burns it set to clear out brush and small trees that can serve as wildfire fuel sparked two blazes that came together as the largest in New Mexico\u2019s history and the biggest burning in the U.S. right now.<\/p>\n

The wildfire has charred nearly 500 square miles in the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, which sits at the southern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Several hundred homes have been destroyed.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on behalf of 50 Mora County residents, the Santa Fe New Mexican<\/em><\/a> reported.<\/p>\n

It asks the court to declare that the Forest Service improperly withheld planning documents for the burns, agreements or contracts with anyone who helped carry out the burns and information about the rules and regulations that govern the prescribed burns.<\/p>\n

Without the information, the lawsuit alleges, the residents \u201ccannot determine the Forest Service\u2019s responsibility \u2013 other than media accounts \u2013 for starting the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Forest Service told the Santa Fe New Mexican <\/em>that it does not comment about pending litigation. The agency has said unexpected, erratic winds during one prescribed burn carried embers outside the targeted area. The other wildfire emerged from a burn set on a pile of dead vegetation in January that smoldered for weeks, even under snow.<\/p>\n

The agency has put a hold on prescribed burns nationwide pending its own investigation.<\/p>\n

President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit New Mexico on Saturday for a briefing about the wildfires and recovery efforts. Another wildfire in southwestern New Mexico has burned 466 square miles.<\/p>\n

The Mora County residents said they requested documents from the Forest Service on May 4 about the fire in northern New Mexico, but that the agency failed to respond within 20 working days as required under the law. The lawsuit also seeks attorneys fees.<\/p>\n

Herman Lujan, 80, his brother and nephew are among the Mora County residents who are suing. Lujan\u2019s home was spared, but he said he has 30 hungry cattle that he might have to sell because they can\u2019t graze in a burned pasture his family has used for generations.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything burned,\u201d he said. \u201cTimber, everything. I even had an old dozer up there to make ponds for the cows, and everything burned.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

from the Calf Canyon\/Hermit Peak Fire drifts over Las Vegas, N.M., on May 7. New Mexico residents are suing the U.S. Forest Service for information about a massive wildfire that\u2019s been burning in the state since late April. The agency has been criticized for its role in causing two wildfires that merged to become […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40085,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[815,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-40084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-associated-press-new-mexico","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40084"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=40084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}