Wildfire forces evacuations in Las Vegas, N.M.

A monstrous, wind-driven wildfire has forced the evacuation of a psychiatric hospital and a jail in Las Vegas, N.M., and put more communities on edge as crews work to halt its spread toward the city.

Surging winds that changed direction pushed the Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire southeast toward Las Vegas on Sunday and early Monday, while making it grow bigger and less contained — an erratic pattern that fire managers worry could repeat itself in the coming days.

Although crews have fended off the fire at the northwest borders of Las Vegas, it will continue to be an unpredictable challenge, said Rocky Gilbert, spokesman for the incident management team combating the fire.

"As you've all seen through these last few weeks, the winds can be our worst enemy, and that switches a lot," Gilbert said during a Monday afternoon briefing.

The menacing fire prompted the state Department of Health to transfer patients from the Behavioral Health Institute to a variety of places in New Mexico.

The institute's executive director, Timothy Shields, said in a statement patients and staff were evacuated overnight.

Adult psychiatric patients were sent to two secured units at the state Veterans' Home in Truth or Consequences. Long-term patients were transported to Genesis HealthCare facilities in Albuquerque and the Fort Bayard Medical Center near Silver City.

Forensic patients, including those convicted of violent crimes, received police escort. The women were taken to Santa Fe and the men went to Santa Rosa.

Kids at Care were transferred to Sequoyah Adolescent Treatment Center in Albuquerque.

Meanwhile, inmates at the San Miguel County Detention Center have been moved to jails in neighboring counties, including Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Taos and Colfax, San Miguel County Manager Joy Ansley said.

By late Monday, the fire had consumed 138,912 acres and was 20 percent contained, dropping from the 30 percent containment that was reached earlier in the weekend before the fire made an explosive jump, U.S. Forest Service officials reported.

Fire managers said the effort to combat the blaze had swelled to 1,052 people, and more help is being requested.

The Hermits Peak section of the fire began as a prescribed burn that went out of control last month. It melded with another fire, dubbed Calf Canyon, to create a huge blaze officials fear could torch double the area it has already burned.

Local officials say they are prepared to evacuate Las Vegas, a city of 13,000 residents, if necessary. On Monday, the Camp Luna and Cinder Road communities were added to the evacuation list. Many people in the city, even those not ordered to evacuate, began leaving Monday.

"Like we've said ... it's kind of a waiting game. We're kind of at the mercy of the winds," said Ansley.

Crews made progress creating containment lines, by hand and with a dozer, that are keeping the fire in check north of United World College — preventing any structural damage on the campus — and south of Mora, Gilbert said.

In Sapello, teams burned control lines around a gas station to protect fuel tanks that could explode if the flames reached them.

"We're holding our own, and that's in a good spot at the moment," Gilbert said.