HOUSTON, June 8 (Xinhua) -- A fast-moving wildfire by Friday Morning has burned more than 1,000 hectares on the Mescalero Reservation, about 330 km south of Santa Fe, the capital city of the U.S. state of New Mexico.
Mandatory evacuations have been issued for those who live in the nearby communities.
The fire started Thursday afternoon and quickly grew in size. The cause is not known yet, and so far, no injuries have been reported. About 100 residents were evacuated on Thursday and sought shelter at local churches and a nearby community center.
Mescalero is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south central New Mexico.
The Mescalero Reservation has a land area of over 1,800 square km, and U.S. Route 70 is the major highway through the reservation.
In the nineteenth century, the Mescalero opened their reservation to other Apache bands, many of whom had been imprisoned in Florida.
The tribe has an economy based largely on ranching and tourism. The mountains and foothills are forested with pines.