Forest fire burning near Ruidoso

El Paso Times ^ | October 28, 2003 | AP

[FITZ]

RUIDOSO, N.M. - Nearly 40 summer homes and cabins were voluntarily evacuated as a forest fire burned through at least 350 acres of steep terrain north of here.

Forest officials were waiting Tuesday for more air support to help battle the blaze, which started Monday night near N.M. 532 and burned mainly in the Lincoln National Forest.

"The key is getting those resources that have been ordered," said Bill Duemling, a fire information officer. An air tanker, designed to drop fire retardant, along with three water-dropping helicopters were called in to help.

The fire was being mapped from the air Tuesday.

"It's jumped around a bit. It's behaving pretty erratically," Duemling said.

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department was trying to determine the cause of the fire, which was believed to be caused by a person.

The blaze, pushed by shifting wind, was burning through thick stands of trees along steep slopes in the Capitan Mountains about seven miles north of Ruidoso. It leaped from tree top to tree top and embers were causing spot fires.

One spot fire flared on Mescalero Apache tribal land, and tribal firefighters were battling that blaze.

Duemling said people had voluntarily evacuated from nearly 40 homes on private land and cabins on forest service land. No structures were immediately threatened.

The fire forced the closure of N.M. 532 - the road to Ski Apache ski area - and Forest Road 117.

Duemling said officials were expecting two single-engine air tankers grounded by winds in Clovis to join the firefighting effort late Tuesday as winds there subsided.

There were 75 people assigned to the fire, along with six engines and three water tenders.

"One of the difficulties in this fire is it's in steep areas and it's going to be hard to access," Duemling said. "We're going to have to fight the hot spots with hand tools and hike in water."

New Mexico, which has been plagued by drought, had 1,477 fires that burned 78,783 acres between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, federal officials said. There were 2,179 fires that scorched 424,708 acres in 2002.

Full story in tomorrow's El Paso Times

[FITZ]

"The Lincoln County Sheriff's Department was trying to determine the cause of the fire, which was believed to be caused by a person."

more fires

[FITZ]

Fires in New Mexico.

[South40]

Beautiful area. Nice race track, too. Did they ever build the prison?

[nothingnew]

Ruidoso Ping

FMCDH

[FITZ]

I don't know about the prison. Hopefully with the fires they had a couple years ago, this one won't amount to much. Weird they think someone set it though.

[Dog Gone]

Great go-track facility in town. SAVE IT NO MATTER WHAT!

[South40]

I was there a few years back and a friend told me there was a plan to build a new prison. The folks down in Carizoso wanted it there because they needed the jobs but the town of Ruidoso was more likely to get it. Perhaps it never came to be.

[Texas Deer Hunter]

Ski Apache Mountain Ruidoso, Sierra Blanca.......... beautiful..........

[VeniVidiVici]

My wife has relatives in Alto, NM which N.M.532 runs into.

Anybody know the actual location of the fire(s) in relation to Alto (which is just north of Ruidoso)?

[FITZ]

Alto is pretty close to the ski slopes and apparently the fire is on the ski slopes. There have been recent fires in that part of New Mexico --- maybe there isn't going to be enough underbrush to fuel them for too long.

[Frank_Discussion]

Thanks for the heads up. Grrrr...

[VeniVidiVici]

Thank you. We were concerned so we called them last night. They said the fires were about 5 miles away but since they are elderly, we told them to gather what they needed so that they could leave on a moment's notice if the need arose.

[FITZ]

Here's an update on the Ruidoso fire ---


http://www.borderlandnews.com/updates/1029-ruidosofires.shtml

Ruidoso fire battle intensifies

[VeniVidiVici]

Thanks for the ping. I think I'm going to need to keep a closer eye on it.