Weather & Science

Forest Service Apologizes for Triggering Record New Mexico Fire

  • Official calls steps leading to big blaze ‘heartbreaking’
  • Debris from controlled burn had already been tied to fire

The Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire in northern New Mexico on May, 1.

Source: New Mexico National Guard/AP Photo

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The chief of the US Forest Service apologized for his agency’s role in accidentally triggering the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, a blaze that’s been burning since April.

“I cannot overstate how heartbreaking these impacts are on communities and individuals,” Randy Moore said in a statement issued Tuesday on the blaze in the parched northeastern part of the state.