Residents scurry to escape smoke and flames
Copyright 2006 Albuquerque Journal
By MARTIN SALAZAR, DAVE KAVANAUGH AND JOHN ARNOLD
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
OCATE, N.M. — Firefighters continued on Thursday to battle the aggressive wildfire that had charred some 12,499 acres in Mora County.
Residents in communities near the fire crammed children, pets and mementos into cars and trucks in preparation for fleeing the flames and smoke.
The human-caused blaze destroyed one Ojo Feliz home and four outbuildings, fire officials confirmed. No significant injuries had been reported.
Investigators with the State Forestry Division were still trying to determine the exact cause of the fire. Evacuation orders remained in effect for Los Hueros, Ojo Feliz and La Febre.
An estimated 450 people were battling the fire burning in Ponderosa pine and grass, including seven or eight air crews with four air tankers and three helicopters. Nasty winds hampered their efforts.
The Ojo Feliz Fire, which started Wednesday morning, was still zero percent contained as of Thursday night. The scene here was surreal as thick plumes of smoke rose into the sky, and area residents who left their homes Wednesday gathered at roadblocks to hear the latest on the fire and keep watch on the blaze.
The Ocate Community Center resembled a drive-in, with a number of people parked outside gazing at the smoke and orange flames from the fire.
N.M. 442 between Ojo Feliz and La Cueva remained shut down. N.M. 120 was also closed from Wagon Mound past Ocate on Thursday, and State Police officers were going door to door asking res- idents along the highway to leave voluntarily.
Among those waiting outside a roadblock in Ocate was Tony Cardenas and his wife, Simonita, of Ojo Feliz.
“I lost like 20 cords of wood,” Cardenas said. “They said I lost my garage.” Cardenas said he was also told that one of his vehicles burned.
“They told me my car was gone, and the truck was right there, so I think it’s gone. They saved my house, but my shop is gone.”
Cardenas said that he and his wife escaped their home with the clothes on their backs and not much more. Both are disabled, and they don’t have property insurance.
“It’s hard to lose whatever you have,” Cardenas said. “It’s hard because they don’t let you go see.”
Tony Duran, an 81-year-old Ocate resident said that his house is insured but that most of the other families in the area can’t afford it. He said he wouldn’t leave his 3,700-acre ranch without a fight. “I won’t evacuate,” he said. “I’d rather burn there.”
Los Hueros resident Kathleen Dudley made a different choice. Authorities asked her to leave her house Thursday afternoon. Within a half hour, she and her dog, Tiger, and three of her cats, Emily, Zuffa and Farley Mo, were driving out of the village. Left to fend for themselves where her chickens, turkeys and honeybees.
“I’m concerned about my animals that are there,” she said.
Vangie Rivera, who works at the Ocate post office, had decided that she and her large brood would heed warnings from authorities and leave their small family farm. Wednesday night, she had taken in families forced to leave their homes. Thursday night, she, her husband and her children planned to stay with relatives in Wagon Mound.
“I got nervous when I got here, when they closed the post office and asked us to leave,” she said. “It’s scary.”
But mixed in with the tension was humor. Rivera pointed at stuffed deer, elk and other game animals hanging on a wall and joked that her husband would probably insist on bringing them along.
The weather hasn’t helped those fighting the fire.
According to the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, steady 15 to 20 mph winds and gusts up to 35 mph fueled the fire Thursday afternoon, and forecasters predicted more of the same for today.
Of even more concern is Saturday’s forecast, which calls for continued dry conditions, higher sustained winds and gusts up to 45 miles per hour.
“Saturday will probably be the peak day for critical weather conditions out of the next four or five days,” incident meteorologist Brent Wachter said Thursday.
Gov. Bill Richardson and state Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, surveyed the blaze from a helicopter Thursday afternoon. Richardson said afterward he was concerned that the fire would continue its path to the northwest - and up a steep ridge of Ponderosa pines.
“I ask all New Mexicans to be careful,” he said. “This will be the worst fire season on record ... I believe we’re well prepared, but human error can be devastating.”
A relief map prepared by foresters showed the fire to be mostly west of N.M. 442 and just east of a mountain ridge that separates Guadalupita and the Ojo Feliz-Ocate area.
Secretary Joanna Prukop of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department said officials believe the fire was humancaused because no lightning strikes had been reported. The point of origin was just north of Ojo Feliz.
State Police Capt. Toby Dolan said his officers evacuated an estimated 40 to 45 people from the villages of Ojo Feliz, Los Hueros and another small community Wednesday night.
Close to 100 evacuees altogether had been asked to leave, said Ernesto Hurtado, district forester in Las Vegas. Shelters were set up at gymnasiums in Mora and Wagon Mound, and a sign at Storrie Lake State Park promised free temporary camp sites.
Meanwhile, four small wildfires broke out Thursday afternoon north of Santa Rosa in Guadalupe County, near the community of Colonias. The new fires burned through grassland near Cowden Ranch and at one point threatened the ranch home, according to Santa Rosa firefighter Tammy Gonzales. The home was no longer threatened by early Thursday evening, she said. She said the fires were 85 percent contained.