JEMEZ SPRINGS, New Mexico — Firefighters battling a 32-square-mile wildfire in northern New Mexico stopped progress on its most active flank on Monday, allowing a closed highway to be reopened.
Meanwhile, a highway remained closed in southwestern New Mexico due to a smaller fire that prompted a precautionary but mandatory evacuation of a small village.
In northern New Mexico, State Route 4 was reopened after crews attacked the southeastern side of the Thompson Ridge blaze, the fire management team said in a statement.
"Their calculated risk paid off, and the forward progress of the fire has been stopped," it said.
The fire was started May 31 by a downed power line and was burning near Jemez Springs in Santa Fe National Forest and Valle Caldera National Refuge west of Los Alamos and Santa Fe.
Containment was put at 40 percent.
In southwestern New Mexico, State Route 152 remained closed between Hillsboro and San Lorenzo, and a mandatory evacuation of Kingston was ordered when the lightning-caused Silver fire burned within 2.5 miles of the hamlet.
Sierra County sheriff's Lt. Glenn Hamilton said Kingston's roughly 45 residents complied with the evacuation order — some after hesitation — and took refuge in Hillsboro.
No structures had been burned and the evacuation was ordered only as a precaution, Hamilton said from Truth or Consequences.
The Silver fire had burned 2.3 squares miles of forest in extremely rugged terrain where there hasn't been a fire since 1925, said Dave Boyd, a spokesman for the fire management team.
There was no containment estimate for the Silver fire, which had about 120 personnel assigned to it. More resources were being committed.
In northern New Mexico, mop-up of the Tres Lagunas fire in Santa Fe National Forest continued as crews checked lines
The fire has burned 15 square miles since being started May 30 by lightning. It was 60 percent contained.
