Santa Fe (US), Jul 25 (AP) The US Forest Service says its own prescribed burn started a 2022 wildfire that nearly burned into Los Alamos, New Mexico.

The Cerro Pelado fire burned across more than 60 square miles (155 square kilometers) and crept within a few miles of the city of Los Alamos and its companion US national security lab.

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Investigations traced the outbreak of the wildfire in April 2022 under extremely dry conditions to hidden, smoldering remains of a prescribed burn of forest debris commissioned by the Forest Service earlier in the winter.

The revelation prompted immediate rebukes against the Forest Service by New Mexico political leaders.

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The federal government already has acknowledged that it started the largest wildfire in state history that charred more than 530 square miles (1,373 square kilometers) of the Rocky Mountain foothills east of Santa Fe, New Mexico, destroying homes and livelihoods. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)