Thousands of people told to flee the largest wildfire burning in the US have chosen to stay and defend generational homes in the mountains of northern New Mexico, even as some run out of food and water, officials say
The forested mountains are known for tough, self-sufficient residents, many of whom can trace lineage to 18th Century Spanish settlers and Native American tribes.
"This is their livelihood, this is all they know, so these elderly people, and a lot of the people, our constituents are not leaving," Padilla said. Keeping these "nortenos" or northerners in their homes was a strong sense of "querencia," or belonging to the land, he said.
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