Posted on 04/25/2011 4:13:05 PM PDT by CedarDave
A fast-moving grass fire burning in southeastern New Mexico is threatening an oil refinery and several other structures.
Authorities said the wind-driven fire broke out Monday morning near Lovington. It has jumped two state highways and has charred an estimated 25,000 acres of private and state land.
State Forestry spokesman Dan Ware said firefighters were trying to the stop the blaze at New Mexico Highway 18. If the flames jump that road, several more structures could be threatened.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
NM Ping list.
The Martin 2 Fire began about 9:20 a.m. along U.S. Highway 82 about 12 miles west of Lovington. It quickly spread eastward jumping State Roads 238 and 483 with officials warning more structures would be threatened if firefighters couldn't stop it at State Road 18.
By 2:30 p.m., with the fire reported to be three miles wide and 17 miles long, the flames had blown by SR 18 south of Lovington and north of Hobbs. A New Mexico State Forestry spokesman, who estimated the size of the fire at 25,000 acres, described the entire north side of the fire as actively burning.
At last report no evacuations had been ordered. Emergency managers, however, were preparing to open the Lea County Events Center and Hobbs High School as evacuation shelters if necessary.
New Mexico State Forestry reported the structures threatened by the fire included the Navajo Refinery on SR 18 at the southern edge of Lovington. News 13 has contacted the refinery but has not yet heard back for a spokesperson.
Boy, the ol’ pinglist is getting a workout today, huh??
I don’t get TV here in our little ‘valley in the foothills’ (can’t afford Dish Network), so if ya get a chance, can you update this thread when ya can??
Yeah, a bunch of things going on with the feds threatening to shut down the industry in SE/NM because of the little lizard and a proposal to look at putting more nuke waste underground at WIPP.
On the fire line, things are winding down a bit. They have just reopened highway 18 and bringing crews to command for rehab. The refinery is the Navajo Lea refinery SE of Lovington, not the main refinery in Artesia as mentioned in reports by other TV stations.
I used to live at Tatum, just north of Lovington, many years ago. I didn’t think there was enough brush or grass in that area to support fire.
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