Massive New Mexico wildfire leaps ahead with flying embers

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Associated Press

More people in northern New Mexico are being warned they might have to flee as the largest wildfire burning in the United States heads toward mountain resort towns. The fire raced along exposed ridge lines Wednesday while tossing embers high into the air that were then carried by the wind. The fire had charred more than 370 square miles of tinder-dry forest by Wednesday morning, and authorities said that number was surely larger given the conditions crews faced in the afternoon. In Southern California, a wildfire erupted Wednesday in the coastal community of Laguna Niguel and burned more than a dozen homes, many of them multimillion-dollar mansions. No injuries were reported.