Associated Press
Firefighters fought fierce winds in their efforts to corral blazes that have scorched thousands of acres in both desert land and high-country timber in New Mexico.
The National Weather Service posted a red flag warning for much of the state Monday. Gusts between 40 mph and 50 mph were common, but state Forestry Division spokesman Dan Ware said firefighters were able to keep the fires in check.
The largest fire — 10,000 acres burning in grass and some ponderosa pine in Mora County near N.M. 442 — was started by lightning Monday night and whipped by winds.
The blaze, called the Cerro Fire, threatened several structures Monday night, but fire crews saved them all, Ware said.
As of Tuesday, it was burning "just open prairie at this point,'' he said. It was 60 percent contained as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Adobe Fire southeast of Animas in New Mexico's bootheel has burned about 8,000 acres of heavy grass and brush, Ware said. The west side of the fire was burning up the slope of Animas Mountain.
About a dozen firefighters have been clearing a line around the lightning-caused blaze, which was 10 percent contained Tuesday. No structures were threatened, Ware said.
North of Corona, wind gusts of up to 45 mph fanned the Encino Fire before "some well-timed rain'' put a damper on the flames' spread, Ware said. Crews were putting out hot spots remaining from the 500-acre fire.
Investigators did not immediately know what caused the blaze.
The 124-acre Capulin Fire in rugged Bandelier National Monument was contained Tuesday, and crews were mopping up the last hot spots, fire information officers said. That blaze burned pinon, juniper and ponderosa pine trees along with grass, and the remoteness of the area forced hand crews to battle the blaze.
Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire, which was kindled Sunday.
Two lightning-caused fires were burning mixed conifer and ponderosa pine trees on media mogul Ted Turner's Vermejo Park Ranch in northeastern New Mexico. The Brilliant 2 Fire, west of Raton, burned 300 acres and the nearby Chimney Fire scorched about 100 acres, Ware said.
Crews assigned to the Brilliant 2 Fire cleared lines and conducted burnout operations on the eastern flank to protect electricity lines feeding Raton and a subdivision on the community's edge. The fire was 60 percent contained, Ware said.
The Chimney Fire was about 30 percent contained, he said.
In west-central New Mexico, the lightning-sparked Garley Fire burned 115 acres of ponderosa pine trees and trees killed by bark beetles on the southeastern flank of Mount Taylor, officials said.
The fire was listed as 90 percent contained Tuesday, and fire crews were doing mop-up work. About 85 percent of the blaze burned on Laguna Pueblo land, while the rest was on Forest Service land.
Lightning strikes Sunday started more than a dozen grass fires that burned more than 24,000 acres in Roosevelt County in east-central New Mexico, firefighters said.
No injuries were reported, and no structures were damaged in the blazes, reported around Elida, Floyd, Arch, Milnesand, Highway and Crossroads.
Three large fires burned near Elida, said the town's fire chief, Adam Anthony. The largest, 15 to 20 miles northwest of Elida, charred 11,000 acres. It was contained after nearly 12 hours, he said.
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