24 HOMES DESTROYED
Scores evacuated as Dog Head Fire continues to grow
TIJERAS — Several hundred people whose homes, animals and ways of life are threatened by the Dog Head Fire heard Gov. Susana Martinez promise during a public meeting here Friday to commit more resources to help them through their ordeal.
Martinez told anxious Manzano Mountain area residents, jammed into the Roosevelt Middle School gym, that she has ordered more New Mexico National Guardsmen to provide security for neighborhoods that have been or may be evacuated, and that she would look into the possibility of making the fairgrounds at Expo New Mexico available to accept animals being removed from the path of the 26-square-mile fire.
By late Friday, the fire that started Tuesday six miles northwest of Tajique in Torrance County had burned 17,000 acres, destroyed two dozen homes and more than 20 other structures, and forced scores of people to leave their homes.
Authorities early Friday afternoon announced that Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies had removed residents from an area extending from the junction of N.M. 217 and 337 south to the county line. Much of the concern expressed at Friday’s meeting centered over confusion about which areas were under mandatory evacuation orders and which were voluntary.
Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson offered some advice on that issue.
“I would not recommend staying anywhere near that 217/337 intersection,” Johnson told the crowd.
Lighter winds early Friday did help crews hold fire lines and limit the growth of the blaze to about an additional 1,000 acres.
Rich Nieto, incident commander, said crews had been focusing on the northwest corner of the fire.
“The 337 road is what we’ve been trying to hold, and we’ve been doing a pretty good job so far,” Nieto said.
But that doesn’t mean the fire is giving in. It remains uncontained and Fire Information Officer Denise Ottaviano said the fire, which shifted east Friday, is still extremely active. Officials are concerned that strong winds expected from the south on Sunday will push the fire north.
Close to 700 firefighters are now battling the fire, assisted by air tankers and helicopters that on Friday dropped retardant and water on the fire’s eastern edge, the side of the fire closest to the small community of Chilili, near where the homes and other buildings destroyed by the fire are located.
Sen. Ted Barela, R-Estancia, whose district is in the fire area, was at Friday’s meeting in Tijeras.
Earlier in the day, Barela said previous fires have burned in the dense forests in his district, but the Dog Head Fire is the first he can remember coming close to established communities. Barela surveyed fire damage earlier this week with a State Police escort.
“The fire has definitely been no respecter of anything,” he said. “This fire is impacting many people, both directly and indirectly. People are hopeful and they’re working hard at taking care of their property.”
U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., visited the incident command center and area communities affected by the fire on Friday, stops that included thanking firefighters from Hotshot crews and listening to the “heartbreaking stories” from some of the families evacuated from their homes. She also expressed her appreciation for the hard work of fire managers and the volunteers helping families at shelters.
“Please keep all of these people, including the dozens of evacuees, in your thoughts and prayers,” Lujan Grisham said on social media.