Two fires forced yesterday, Tuesday, at least 7,000 people to be removed from their homes in a mountainous region of New Mexico, in the US Southwest, where they destroyed over 500 buildings.

Also, according to the Associated Press, one person died, but local authorities did not provide further details.

The large fires broke out Monday in a rural area of ​​the state, about an hour and a half’s drive from the Mexican border. These have mainly surrounded Ruidoso, a village whose inhabitants were hastily evacuated.

“I immediately ask the residents of Ruidoso and its surroundings to keep calm and follow official instructions to minimize the risk”state Gov. Michelle Luhan Grisham said, declaring the region a state of emergency.

Yesterday at noon, the two fires they had burned about 80 square kilometers and had not been brought under control at all, according to the authorities.

The fire “is particularly intense” and spread quickly, according to the latest update.

The situation is improving, but authorities fear strong winds will complicate firefighting efforts.

New Mexico has been dealing with years of drought, which has been exacerbated by climate change.

At the same time,in California, also in the western part of the USA, the biggest fire is raging that this state has faced this year, in a rural area northwest of Los Angeles. This has destroyed over 60 square kilometers of vegetation since Saturday. Yesterday, it was only “24% contained”, according to the fire service.

This fire may be a foretaste of an intense fire season in California, after two particularly rainy years.

“For two years now, we have had very wet winters. This caused a lot of grass to grow. (…) But in the summer we don’t have rain and the land dries out,” Kenichi Haskett, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department, told AFP.

Early heat waves this season have heightened concerns in the American West.

In early June, record high temperatures were set for the season in this part of the country. The mercury touched 44 degrees Celsius in Las Vegas, Nevada, and 50 degrees Celsius in Death Valley, California, unprecedented levels for late spring.

According to scientists, these recurring heat waves are an unmistakable sign of global warming and are expected to multiply, last longer and intensify.