Environmental News from the US:
Thousands of people told to flee the largest wildfire burning in the United States have chosen to stay and defend generational homes in the mountains of northern New Mexico, even as some run out of food and water, officials said.
In Mora County, population 4,500, around 60% of residents in evacuation areas have remained in centuries-old farming and ranching communities where electric power has been lost, said Undersheriff Americk Padilla.
“This is their livelihood, this is all they know, so these elderly people, and a lot of the people, our constituents, are not leaving,” Padilla said.
The forested mountains around 40 miles northeast of Santa Fe are known for tough, self-sufficient residents, many of whom can trace lineage to 18th-century Spanish settlers and Native American tribes.
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Source: Reuters