By CEDAR ATTANASIO and KATHLEEN RONAYNE Associated Press
LAS VEGAS, N.M. (AP) — Dangerous, gusty winds are expected to continue across northeast New Mexico into Monday. That's likely to complicate the fight against wildfires that threaten thousands of homes in mountainous rural communities. Firefighters have been able to stop the fire from spreading eastward toward Las Vegas, New Mexico, the area's largest city with 13,000 people. But the northern and southern ends of the flames are proving trickier to contain. Wind gusts have topped 50 miles per hour and are keeping some firefighting aircraft on the ground. The fires now cover 275 square miles. That's more than twice the size of Philadelphia.