Fort Stanton fire burns 720 acres, forcing evacuations

The Camp Fire that started Sunday afternoon in Lincoln County has burned 720 acres and prompted an evacuation in Fort Stanton and its surrounding camping grounds.

As of Monday evening, the fire has been 4% contained, although officials “expect that number to go up as the day progresses,” said Laura Rabon, a spokeswoman with the incident management team. The fire entered a former World War II internment camp, according to an advisory from the Fort Stanton Historical Site.

No people were injured, but four structures, including three historical buildings at Fort Stanton — two wooden structures from the 1930s built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and a gymnasium built in 1944 by German sailors who were captured after their ship sunk — were burned.

Evacuations remain for Fort Stanton, Rob Jaggers Campground and the Rio Bonito and West Mesa Road dispersed camping areas. Fort Stanton is closed to the public. N.M. 220 is closed in the Fort Stanton area. Closures and evacuations will be reassessed daily. Bureau of Land Management Roswell District, Lincoln County and the NM Forestry Division are all under fire restrictions or a burn ban.

The source of the fire is unknown and BLM will begin investigations Tuesday, but piñon-juniper and grass were the primary fuels, according to the New Mexico State Forestry Division.

“Mostly this fire was driven by a combination of fuel,” Rabon said. “Weather always plays a huge factor in fire behavior but luckily, today we’re only seeing 10 mph winds, so that’s better than what we were seeing yesterday.”

Management of the fire will be turned over to Type 3 wildland fire team.

The area affected by the fire is a specially managed area by the BLM and the state of New Mexico. The BLM managed land is part of the Fort Stanton-Snowy River Cave National Conservation Area, and the state land involved in the fire is the historic fort, managed by the New Mexico Cultural Affairs Division.

The blaze at Fort Stanton is about 15 miles away from communities in Ruidoso that were ravaged by wildfires last year when several hundred homes and businesses were destroyed. Those fires were followed by devastating flooding and erosion in scorched areas.

An unrelated one-acre fire on the opposite side of the county in Flume Canyon was reported Monday afternoon. Grindstone Lake was closed, evacuated and used as a water source for air water strikes.

Kerry Gladden, public information officer for the Ruidoso Fire Department, said it is unknown how that fire started, but the fire department and Bonito Valley volunteers have begun water drops to fight the flames.