Ad
Featured
Balloon briefly catches fire after falling into power lines upon landing
Albuquerque Fire Rescue at the scene of a hot air balloon crash in an apartment complex construction site on Mildred NW, near Fourth and Candelaria, Saturday.
Published
Modified
A hot air balloon partially caught fire after hitting power lines while landing in a construction site Saturday morning in Northwest Albuquerque.
Tom Garrity, Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta spokesman, said nobody was injured, and the fire was “quickly extinguished” and only affected the balloon’s envelope.
He said the balloon landed in the lot where an apartment complex is being built in the 400 block of Mildred NW, near Fourth and Candelaria. Garrity said after landing, the balloon fell on to a power line on the property and the envelope caught fire. The fire was quickly put out, he said.
It was the fifth reported incident involving a balloon since Monday. The other four incidents included at least three in which a balloon collided with an object — a tree in Rio Rancho and power lines in the North Valley in two cases.
On Friday, a balloon pilot with two passengers aboard struck the KKOB AM radio tower and knocked it down west of Balloon Fiesta Park.
The pilot and passengers were uninjured in the crash and able to land safely afterward. The radio station was off the air as a result of the crash but was back on by Saturday.
“Through (Saturday) morning’s mass ascension, there have been more than 3,200 launches as a part of the 2024 Balloon Fiesta. It concerns us when balloon flights don’t go as planned. Safe flights are our primary goal, so any accident is too many,” Garrity said in a statement. “As always, we’ll review data about flights with the FAA after Balloon Fiesta.”
