Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire grows to over 200,000 acres

MORA COUNTY, N.M. – Despite the wind, firefighters are trying to contain the largest fire burning in the country.

Over the weekend, the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire spread to the north and to the south. It’s burned over 200,000 acres.

State Road 518 is closed, but fortunately officials reopened State Road 94, which stretches from Sapello headed towards Pendaries.

Fire officials say they feel like they are playing ping pong, going back and forth trying to contain this fire from either end.

Multiple communities in Mora County were evacuated Sunday from Holman to Apache Lake and many other small communities east of 518 but north of Mora. Fire officials say if your community is in the Go status, it’s time to leave

“Once again if you are in a Go status please, please evacuate to will have firefighters working all over the place in there, and if you’re trying to get out we’re trying to get in it causes a lot of problems,” said Tod Able, operations section chief.

Fire officials estimate more than 170 houses have been lost, but that number could go up in the coming days. Now families, who live along State Road 94, are left to pick up the pieces.

"You feel helpless you can’t do nothing, you just see it go down, you witness it go down. That’s all I can say, it’s horrible to witness it," said Silvano Gomez, resident.