Heavy monsoon rains would normally be cause for celebration in the drought-parched mountains of northeastern New Mexico …especially after the largest wildfire in state history came within a mile of the region’s largest community this spring. But not this year, when fears of running out of fresh water forced officials to cancel [large events]. All over this town of 13,000 people, carwashes are closed. Swimming pools are empty. Restaurants are serving food on paper plates. …Instead of replenishing reservoirs, the downpours are flooding a burn scar left by the blaze known as the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak fire, releasing contaminants into private wells and overwhelming Las Vegas’s main water supply with ashy sludge. It is the latest chapter in a catastrophe created by the federal government when Forest Service employees lost control of not just one but two prescribed burns set this spring to clear out undergrowth.