Crews Brace for Strong Winds in Fighting 4,600-Acre Trigo Fire
Associated Press
MANZANO — Firefighters are bracing for another round of strong wind as they tackle a blaze that has burned 4,600 acres in the Manzano Mountains.
Gusts could reach 40 mph later today, said Arlene Perea, a fire information officer with the U.S. Forest Service.
Crews were focusing on the north side of the Trigo Fire below Capilla Peak late Tuesday and early today, and they managed to catch a few spot fires, she said.
Air tankers will be spreading fire retardant and helicopters will be dropping buckets of water on the flames — weather permitting, Perea said.
There are 506 people assigned to the blaze, along with four air tankers, five helicopters and 18 engines, she said.
The cost of fighting the blaze is $3.8 million so far, Perea said.
The blaze began April 15 in the Cibola National Forest on the west side of the Manzanos and burned east onto private land and toward Manzano and Torreon, threatening both small communities last weekend.
Crews have started mop-up operations on the western flank where the blaze started and the fire lines are strong on the east side near Manzano, fire officials said.
An electrical crew also has been working to restore transmission lines that burned last weekend, officials said. The fire took out eight power poles, cutting electricity to electronic sites on Capilla Peak. Those sites have been running off backup generators.
The fire has burned nine homes, nine outbuildings and two recreational vehicles. It has been burning in mainly oak brush and pinon, juniper and ponderosa pine trees.
Investigators believe the fire was human caused.
Another fire has burned nearly 25,000 acres of desert grass and shrubs on mostly private ranch land on the eastern portion of New Mexico's bootheel.
"It's just kind of sitting out there by itself, not really bothering anybody," said Dan Ware, state Forestry Division spokesman.
The Center Peak Fire started April 14, probably from an abandoned campfire south of Animas, he said.
The fire, which also burned a bit of U.S. Bureau of Land Management land, has not threatened any structures, Ware said.
"The southeastern corner of the fire, which is in an area called Smuggler Hills, is still somewhat active, but it is moving into some very sparse vegetation, so the hope is the fire will just kind of burn itself out," he said.
The Forestry Division is monitoring the fire by air, and ranch personnel are monitoring it on the ground, Ware said.
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