And a Lack of Information
Fire in the Organs
By Rebecca Powell, 6-16-08
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| Fire in Soledad Canyon as of Saturday evening | |
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A fire burns in the Organ Mountains, west of Las Cruces.
Saturday 4:30 P.M., we head out the door for the pool. Temperatures were hovering around the 100 degree mark and the worst heat of the day was descending. As we ride our bikes, we notice thick white smoke barreling out of a canyon in the Organs. We guess controlled burn or a wildfire. In either case, we are sure officials know and are taking action. The smoke is obvious, and we know there are caretakers at Dripping Springs. We do not think to call. We go swimming.
According to the Las Cruces Sun News others noticed the fire around 5:30 P.M.
After our swim we arrive home, change and make the drive up University Avenue toward the Organs. Cars are pulled to the side of the road, videoing, photographing. We can see the edge of orange flame creeping over the mountain, rising from the canyon.
A woman at the gate to Dripping Springs Natural Area turns us away. I ask if it is a control burn. No. I ask about acreage. They don’t know how big it is yet. As we drive back to Las Cruces, we see a Fox News van heading towards the fire.
Once home, I check every media outlet, but the radio. No news. I check county websites, city websites, the New Mexico Bureau of Land Management (BLM) website. None contain any information about a fire in the Organs. I call local fire stations, county fire stations, the Bureau of Land Management, the Dripping Springs Visitor’s Center. No one answers. The recorded messages do not mention the fire.
The ten o’clock news has a small story on the fire. They say it is manmade and has burned over 400 acres. New Mexico’s available air tankers are elsewhere, fighting fires in other states.
Sunday and the fire is still burning. The Las Cruces Sun News carries a story. I repeat the same obsessive checking of other outlets. Nothing.
Sunday evening we drive towards Soledad Canyon and speak with a deputy blocking the road. He looks wistfully at a cloud on the northeast horizon, “Wish that sucker would come over here and rain.” A futile wish in a land that has not seen rain since February.He says there are plenty of firefighters, but the terrain is rough. He says Alamogordo sent three helicopters, but they are having problems finding water. There are not many lakes or waterways in the Chihuahuan Desert. We leave grateful to know a little more.
Commenters on the Las Cruces Sun News article were also frustrated by the lack of information and what they viewed as a slow response:
Victor - We live in Talavera and first saw the smoke around 6 p.m. We called 911. No response. Next the fire marshal. No response. Las Alturas fire dept. No response. The fire dept. on Missouri. They weren’t aware of the fire, but told us it was probably just a “prescribed burn”.We checked this website. No news until well after 9 p.m. We turned on local radio and television and heard not a word about it until fox news at nine, with very little information. I would like to know where we turn to “in the event of an emergency” for news about what is happening in our front yard.
Tector - To add to ‘Vincent’....we also live in Talavera, and no one did anything or responded to anything at all. Finally, a call to 911 said that ALL of Talavera was on a voluntary evacuation plan. Oh? How would anyone know, and just what is that? So we watched it as it crept over the hillsides and up the slopes. Finally I drove up Soledad Canyon Rd and had a visit with a helpful Las Alturas firefighter who gave me a few details, but even then there was little response in terms of fighting it. I did find out that because of the area, the firefighters ( apparently from the BLM) had to carry water to the site. So, thank you and bravo to those who are fighting the fire, but why wasn’t something done a lot earlier?
Monday morning and the Las Cruces Sun News states, “The blaze that first was spotted around 5:30 p.m. Saturday was 15 percent contained. Bumgarner said the fire was human caused.” The blaze has covered over 1500 acres.
BLM is now answering the phone.
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Comments
As to information, not only could we not find out anything much about the fire while it was going on (excepting from the Channel 7 helicopter and a few TV people on the ground within the burning town), but we were largely unable to find out much about the fire afterwards. True they published maps of the fire's progress half day by half day which were very informative (the fire moved at about 1 mph even though winds gusted to 50), and most of the fire was on the ground, crowning rarely. Thus most of the homes burned only because the town had been evacuated and there was no one to man the garden hoses!. But no one who did stay lost a home and several saved other homes.
Bottom line, the forest fire fighters are great people but totally ineffective. You couldn't even tell they'd been there excepting for the effects of their back fires one of which burned the Lab property when the wind came up.
Second bottom line, they continue perpetuate the myth that fire fighters can put out fires (if they are small which most are this is true--if they get large you might as well send them home), That's the main reason they won't tell you what happened.
Finally, large fires will continue to burn unchecked until the country begins fighting them at night from the air using GPS, computer controlled topography, etc. (as the military has been doing for years) and ten times as many planes as they currently use now. The only job for the ground fighters would then be to mop up and get some small hotspots. Will that ever happen? Not as long as people continue to believe the packaged message the forest service puts out (it's nearly word for word the same every time) and don't demand a realistic approach to fire suppression.