Firefighters in northern New Mexico laboured under an apocalyptic orange sky, and vehicles streamed out of the ski area of Angel Fire on Wednesday as wind-driven flames from the state's second-largest blaze on record roared closer to the mountain resort.

With winds gusting beyond 80 km per hour through dense, drought-parched forests, exhausted crews were at loss to stop a wildfire that has raged across a 45km swath of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains for more than a month, destroying hundreds of homes.

Spreading through the rugged, tinder-dry landscape with explosive speed, the springtime conflagration has displaced thousands of residents while raising...