Tag: New Mexico

A news release from the Trigo fire on the Cibola National Forest southeast of Albuquerque at 8:00 AM today:

The Trigo Fire refuses to lay down. Firefighters on the swing shift stayed out much of the night fighting active fire behavior on the north side, below Capilla Peak. Crews managed to catch a couple of small slopovers and a few spot fires that tried to escape during the night. Fire management officials say firefighters on the ground and in the air have done an excellent job, but they can’t let up yet.

Today will be a critical day in maintaining control of the Trigo Fire. Extreme wind conditions are expected between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., with gusts up to 40 miles per hour.

The east and west extremities of the fire have cooled down and rehabilitation efforts are underway in those areas. The area below Capilla Peak however, continues to provide resistance.

Aircraft will fly today as wind conditions permit, monitoring fire lines. Air tankers and helicopters will drop retardant and water as needed.

Fire Facts:

Containment: 46% Acres: 4,600

Fire Personnel: 506

Hot Shot Crews: 6

Type II Crews: 11

Engines: 18

Aircraft Available: 5 helicopters, 4 air tankers, 1 lead plane

Cost to date: $3,800,000

KOB.com has some information about a new fire southeast of Albuquerque, and east of Belen. It is the Trigo fire, and is reported to be about 100 acres; normally not national news, but it’s slow this week and the fire is well documented with a live camera, video footage, and still photos.

The above image is from a “live” camera at the Albuquerque airport. It normally is pointed to the west, but I think they turned it to the east to capture images from this fire. This should be a live feed from the camera’s site, showing the latest image when you refresh this page.

Check out the video footage and the other photos at the KOB.com site.

From KOB.com:

“A wildfire that began Tuesday morning on the western slope of the Manzano Mountains east of Belen had jumped from about 10 acres at noon to roughly 100 acres by 2:00.

Arlene Perea of the Mountainair Ranger District says the biggest problem facing firefighters is the strong wind, which is whipping the flames and has grounded air tankers that were dropping fire retardant on the fire.

Perea says that four hotshot crews are en route to the so-called trigo Fire and two more have been ordered. An inmate work crew and two fire engines also are being marshaled.

Dan Ware of the state forestry division says the Trigo Fire is burning near Capilla Peak. He says that no structures are currently threatened but there are communications towers in the area.

Ware says that the fire is burning in rugged terrain about eight or nine miles north of where the Ojo Peak Fire consumed nearly 7,000 acres last November.”

The Las Cruces Sun-News has the story about some large fires in southeast NM.

Grass fire burns homes, forces evacuations in southeastern NM
The Associated Press
Article Launched: 03/15/2008 12:36:04 AM MDT

HOBBS, N.M.—Firefighters are bracing for another day of fierce wind as they battle a grass fire that has raced across thousands of acres in southeastern New Mexico, taking with it four homes and forcing residents to evacuate.

The blaze began Friday as two separate fires. The first fire was reported around 3 p.m., a second fire was spotted about an hour later and the flames soon merged. By nightfall, it was 2 miles wide and 20 miles long and had burned across the state line into Texas, said Dan Ware, a spokesman with the State Forestry Division.

“The grass and the brush is still extremely thick and so it keeps adding fuel to this fire,” Ware said.

Firefighters were concerned about the rural community of Knowles, just west of the New Mexico-Texas line. They told residents scattered throughout the area to leave and they issued a voluntary evacuation for residents living north of Hobbs between N.M. 18 and N.M. 132. Ware could not say how many homes were in the area.

An evacuation center was set up at Hobbs High School.

More than 100 firefighters were battling the 25,600-acre fire, but gusting winds made the effort difficult, Ware said.

Winds ranging from 30 to 45 mph fed the flames Friday afternoon. The National Weather Service had issued a wind warning for the area but that expired late Friday and the wind speed dropped to under 30 mph overnight.