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Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Today's Winds Will Test Progress on Trigo Fire
By Matt Mygatt
Associated Press
Wind will be testing firefighters' efforts today to corral a fire that has scorched more than 21 square miles in central New Mexico's Manzano Mountains.
"They're just trying to strengthen containment lines in there and make less of a chance of anything bad happening," Linda Kearns, a U.S. Forest Service public information officer, said this morning.
"They're trying to make it safer inside to prevent an ember that wants to take a ride," she said.
The weather was "pretty quiet" Monday night and early Tuesday morning, allowing crews using hand tools and bulldozers to make headway on the Trigo Fire, she said.
"Everything that we're working on is in the interior. We have not had any spillover," Kearns said.
But the main concern today was wind that could gust to 35 mph and dry thunderstorms packing lightning, she said.
The human-caused fire, which is 55 percent contained, has burned 13,680 acres and 59 homes since it began April 15.
The south and southwest perimeters of the fire were cold and some rehabilitation could begin today.
"Overall it looks good in there. It's going to smolder for a while," Kearns said.
The fire has been burning mainly west of the small communities of Manzano and Torreon.
An unknown number of residents in areas west of Torreon remain evacuated, including people from the Sherwood Forest subdivision north of the fire boundary, Kearns said.
There were 806 people assigned to the blaze along 33 engines, 13 water tenders and three bulldozers. An air tanker also was available to drop fire retardant if needed. Five helicopters have been dumping loads of water on burning areas.
The fire razed nine homes days after it started, and another 50 were burned last Wednesday when wind gusting to 60 mph blew embers about three-quarters of a mile outside containment lines.
The fire had been 95 percent contained at 4,500 acres before the flareup, which forced the evacuations of about 400 people.
The fire has been burning tinder-dry oak brush and pinon, juniper and mixed conifer trees on the east side of the Manzanos, where terrain varies from relatively flat lower areas to rugged higher country.
The fire has cost nearly $8.7 million to fight so far.
Representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Small Business Administration and state and local officials have planned a formal assessment of the damage caused by the fire.
"This fire has devastated a big segment of this community and we are working diligently to obtain the maximum amount of assistance," said Tim Manning, director of the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. "In some cases, people have lost everything."
In south-central New Mexico, crews were concerned about wind — forecast to gust up to 35 mph — as they widened containment lines around a 3,860-acre blaze in the Sacramento Mountains on Mescalero Apache land, said Tom Berglund, a Forest Service public information officer.
"They're working in from the lines, just getting out all the smokes and making sure we can button it up — assuming there is no escape fire when we get those winds today," he said.
Wind "blew things around a little" Monday, but "even given the higher winds, there was no real challenge to the lines," Berglund said.
The human-caused South Tularosa Fire began Thursday about two miles southeast of Mescalero. It was 65 percent contained today, Berglund said.
There were 500 people assigned to the blaze, along with three helicopters, 28 engines, five bulldozers and eight water tenders. Air tankers were available.
The fire has been burning ponderosa pine trees on fairly flat terrain, allowing firefighters to use bulldozers to cut lines around the blaze.
No structures are threatened, Berglund said.
Copyright ©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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