Fire Spreads Through Sevilleta

Firefighting crews battling a 1,800-acre wildfire in the sprawling Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge on Wednesday had hopes of containing the blaze by late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning, Aug. 6.
The fire was caused by lightning strikes and quickly spread to 400 acres, fueled by brisk winds and dry gramma grass.
According to the Socorro County Fire Marshal’s office, the fire started about 3 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 5.
“Apparently, there were five separate lightning strikes that merged into one large fire,” said Jerry Wheeler of the fire marshal’s office. “The separate fires made it a challenge at first.”
Battling the fire were crews from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state Forestry and the Veguita Fire Department
“We were called for assistance for water support at about 5:15 p.m.,” Wheeler said. “We began coordinating with Chris Wilcox, the incident commander, and by 6:45 p.m., all the agencies were working together on the fire.”
Wheeler said the fire initially started about two miles south mile marker 173 on Highway 60.
“There were seven structures on the north side of the fire that caused some concern, but after some residents called 911, fire crews were successful in keeping the fire off private land,” he said. “The only losses so far are several ecological research sites.”
The refuge is host to the Sevilleta Long Term Ecological Research Program, conducted by the University of New Mexico’s Department of Biology. The program conducts a variety of research that examines long-term changes in ecosystem attributes.
As of press time Wednesday, the fire was about 75 percent contained and had not spread beyond the refuge boundaries, although flare-ups on the eastern edge kept firefighters busy through the afternoon and evening.With temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, dust devils made fighting the fire more difficult.
“They were creating fire whirls within the burn area,” Wheeler said.
It was estimated that the total burn area may be as high as 2,000 acres before it is completely contained, Wheeler said, “but with the temperatures and the wind, it would hard to estimate reasonably.”
The blaze has been named the Black Butte Fire.

Photo caption: Firefighters work to contain the Black Butte Fire at Sevilleta on Wednesday. Photo courtesy Jerry Wheeler/Socorro County Fire Marshal's office

Fire Spreads Through Sevilleta