In New Mexico, the Gila National Forest near Silver City and the Lincoln National Forests near Alamogordo are experiencing "a dryness component more comparable to peak fire season than early March ...

The Forest Service has not commented, but Gila National Forest workers told the Silver City Daily Press that at ... firefighters for the upcoming fire season, and for doing controlled burns ...

Efforts to battle the 1,250-acre fire in eastern California were complicated by strong winds, which were expected to continue ...