More New Mexico residents are warned they may need to flee wildfire

A sunset seen through a wall of wildfire smoke from the Amtrak train station in Las Vegas, New Mexico, on Saturday May 7 2022 (Cedar Attanasio/AP)

Firefighters in New Mexico’s Rocky Mountain foothills have been preparing to excavate new firebreaks and clear brush to create more defensive lines aimed at preventing a massive wildfire from destroying more homes and tinder-dry pine forests.

The fire – the largest in the US – has burned about 300 homes and jumped a motorway late on Sunday, taking hold in rugged areas difficult for firefighters to reach and prompting a warning for more residents of rural villages to be ready to flee quickly.