ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico: As firefighters scrambled to keep the largest blaze burning in the U.S. from destroying more homes in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham asked President Joe Biden to declare a federal disaster.

During a briefing on the fire burning across the state’s northeast, Lujan Grisham, a first-term Democrat who is running for re-election, signed a request for a presidential disaster declaration that will be sent to the White House, to request financial assistance for the state’s recovery efforts, adding that it was important that the declaration be made immediately, rather than when the fire is out.

“I am unwilling to wait. I have 6,000 people evacuated, I have families who do not know what the next day looks like,” said Grisham, vowing to get them help.

However, residents in the small northeastern New Mexico city of Las Vegas were already voicing concerns about grocery stores being closed, and some people chose to leave, even though evacuations had not been ordered.

Those from villages in the mountains surrounding the community, who had found refuge with family members and at a shelter in Las Vegas, were worried they might have to find another place to go if predicted fierce winds push the flames closer to the city.

Meanwhile, a battery of fire engines and their crews were protecting homes and other structures on the edge of Las Vegas, and bulldozers cleared more fire lines on the outskirts.

While New Mexico was at the center of the latest wave of hot, dry and windy weather hitting the U.S., forecasters also issued warnings for parts of Arizona and Colorado, and authorities in Texas urged people to be careful, after local crews had to respond to several new fires this week.

All of the New Mexico fires are being fueled by tinder-dry groves of ponderosa pine. This year, an area of more than 4,400-square miles has burned across the U.S.