A RACE TO SAVE HOMES
Firefighters say they are having more successes than failures
MANZANO MOUNTAINS — The fire destroyed the surrounding forest and the plastic flowerpots near the front door, but, thanks to efforts of firefighters, the isolated home in the Manzanos was spared.
It’s one of the hundreds of residences, firefighters say, they’re trying to defend from the ongoing Dog Head Fire, a blaze that started Tuesday; the exact cause has yet to be determined. The fire has charred at least 17,600 acres, and officials said they have 9 percent of it contained as of Saturday night.
Back at the adobe-style home that was almost consumed by the blaze, matchstick trees and white ash surrounded the building when officials showed a Journal reporter and photographer the property on Saturday. The house, which sits south of Chilili and near N.M. 337, was mostly untouched. A patio chair was destroyed, but the home is still standing, said Jay Walter, a structure protection specialist from Phoenix. Fish swam in a pond near the home’s porch.
“Even the fish are happy,” Walter said.
Crews, Walter said, cleaned the roof and cut off some lower-hanging tree limbs to prevent the fire from creeping to the house. It’s the kind of work that saves homes, he said, while walking around the home.
“You can see the difference between preparation and no preparation,” Walter said, pointing to the intact house and the charred trees adjacent to the structure. He said crews have more success stories than they do failures. But he acknowledged that probably means little to anyone who lost one of the 24 homes the fire has
destroyed.
Smoke hung low in the sky on the blistering Saturday morning near the community of Estancia, the town serving as a hub for crews from around the region battling the blaze. Barren areas already blackened by the fire were even hotter as heat emanated from still-smoldering stumps and shrubbery.
Fire officials said they feared that winds today could extend the fire’s northern front, toward the communities of Chilili and Escobosa.
The fire grew Friday night from 16,000 acres to 17,600 by the Saturday morning update, its growth constrained by cooler temperatures. The fire did not expand appreciably Saturday. Officials said they’re still investigating what caused the fire.
Like a ‘moonscape’
Officials took the Journal beyond a roadblock at N.M. 55 and N.M. 337, which is south of Chilili and west of Estancia.
In the Manzano Mountains past the roadblock, firefighters wearing mustard yellow uniforms and carrying intimidating packs hacked at the earth with tools that resembled pickaxes. They also chopped at nearly incinerated stumps to break up hot spots. A few feet from them, men in the same uniforms cut away at trees with whirring chain saws. They were cutting a line between the burned earth and the green vegetation. This area had already been eaten by the Dog Head Fire, and one firefighter called it a “moonscape,” given the black trees and white ash.
This group, a hand crew based in Fort Defiance, Ariz., arrived in New Mexico on Saturday morning.
The crew, a mixture of fresh recruits and veterans, worked under the sun. Jefferson Curtis, the squad boss, watched the firefighters while holding an ax.
Curtis is a student at Navajo Technical University and is working toward a degree. He wants an “office job,” he said. He and the other firefighters were covered in soot, but he said he was not sure he would even shower before falling asleep Saturday night.
The once busy roads behind the roadblock near Estancia were mostly empty. Speed limits have been mostly abandoned and the occasional SUV or truck screamed down the mountain roads.
The airways had more traffic as droning planes dropped loads of magenta fire retardant onto green junipers and pines. Helicopters dumped water on the fire. The smell of burning wood stuck to everything.
No plans to leave
Evacuations have been mandated or recommended for many in the mountainous community, but some have remained, regardless.
About a dozen Chilili residents congregated under the shade of a piñon tree. They talked about getting a generator to power a water pump. The goal, they said, was to allow firefighters to pull water from the town rather than driving to Estancia, which is about a 20-minute drive away.
The sun beat down as the men talked about the government, specifically the “chain of command” and how long it takes for anything to get done. A blue heeler, Lyla, panted in the shade.
The men, most clad in blue jeans, ball caps and T-shirts, received optimistic reports earlier in the morning about calm winds, but they were still doubtful. News about the fire, they said, changes quickly and often, so it’s hard to tell if the good news will last.
One of the Chilili men estimated that from 60 to 100 people were still in the rural community.
The electric utility companies in the area had long since cut power. Their food was spoiling, but they had no plans to leave the place where many of them were born and raised. Chris Coche said he doesn’t have insurance on his home and can’t afford to lose it.
“I gotta do what I gotta to do to keep my family under a roof,” Coche said.
While chatting, they spotted a nearby plume of inky smoke rise into the sky, and their conversation died down. Most eventually got into their vehicles, likely headed back to their