Fire crews close in around massive New Mexico wildfire

LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — Firefighters in New Mexico are taking advantage of diminished winds to build more fire lines and clear combustible brush near homes close to the fringes of the largest wildfire burning in the U.S. The blaze has charred hundreds of square miles of tinder-dry forest, destroying dozens of homes and triggering the evacuation of thousands across an expansive stretch of rural northeastern New Mexico. President Joe Biden has approved a disaster declaration for areas devastated by the fire. Crews are working Thursday to keep the flames from moving any closer to the town of Las Vegas and other villages along the blaze’s shifting fronts.