Roaring Arizona fire creating health risks

New Mexico residents were warned of likely hazardous air quality from throat-burning smoke spewing from Arizona's gigantic wildfire that is now in their state. The 720-square-mile fire, which jumped the state line late Friday, has burned more than 5,000 acres in New Mexico, New Mexico Fire Information estimated. Heavy winds stoking the flames crippled ground and aerial firefighter efforts to contain the voracious inferno, the Albuquerque Journal reported Monday. An undetermined number of residents were told to evacuate their homes, the newspaper said. Interstate 25, New Mexico's main north-south highway, was closed in both directions including as far north as Colorado. State health officials warned residents as far away as Albuquerque and Santa Fe about potential respiratory hazards as soot levels from smoke in eastern Arizona were nearly 20 times the federal health standard. Microscopic particles, about 1/28th the width of a human hair, can get lodged in the lungs and cause serious health problems, both immediate and long term, health officials said. Health officials issued the same warning for the Arizona areas affected by the wildfires, advising people to stay indoors, close doors and windows, run air-filtration systems, and avoid exercise or other physical activity. Nearly 10,000 people forced from the Round Valley communities of Springerville and Eagar in eastern Arizona were allowed to return home Sunday as firefighters reported progress against the blaze, even as officials warned of lingering health risks due to air pollution. More than 4,300 firefighters battled the blaze Arizona's worst ever which began May 29 and is 6 percent contained, the U.S. Forest Service said. The blaze is believed to have been human-caused.