Investigators from the state Fire Marshal's Office say an electrical transmission line that ran through a tree just south of the Philmont Scout Ranch touched off the fire that burned 26,525 acres of mostly dry grass and brush between Cimarron and Miami last week, the Raton Range reported on its Web site.

Investigators located the burn marks on the tree's limbs and found evidence on a wire that led them to pinpoint the start of the fire that began around 1:30 a.m. last Wednesday and was fully contained by Thursday evening, the Range reported.

Joe Chavez, supervisor of the fire marshal's investigation unit, told the Range that the power line had probably been knocked around in the tree by high winds in the days just before the fire, wearing down the insulation and then probably coming into contact with another wire, sparking the blaze.

Some 100 firefighters from around Colfax, Taos and Union counties battled the fire, which briefly forced the evacuation of the town of Miami and burned several thousand acres of privately owned land, including 2,000 acres on the Philmont Ranch, the Range reported.

Only one outbuilding was destroyed, and no one was reported injured, the paper reported.

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