Bosque brush ignites in Casa Colorada

CASA COLORDA—As black-and-white smoke billowed over southern Valencia County on Tuesday, about 125 firefighters were on the ground working to contain a fire that began near the bosque.

Valencia County Fire Chief Matt Propp said during a 3 p.m. briefing that while there was zero percent containment, wildland fire crews were making progress in keeping the flames from spreading.

Firefighters were alerted to the fire just after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, and Rio Communities firefighters were first on scene. Valencia County Fire Chief Matt Propp said they located a fast-moving fire adjacent to the bosque.

“They requested additional resources from Valencia County Fire and with our wildland team, we deployed to the incident,” Propp said.

The 125-acre fire is located between N.M. 304 and the Rio Grande near Madrone Flyway. The highway is closed at the moment but the chief expects to reopen the road tonight at about 7 p.m.

“The fast-moving fire then got into the bosque and we deployed crews to attack the fire,” Propp said. “We have agencies from across the state to assist us.”

The fire chief said residents near Lagrima Road and Madrone Flyway were evacuated, but not due to homes being threatened by the flames.

“The reason was so we could get engines in there and we wouldn’t be able to get them out,” he said. “So for the safety of our personnel, we needed to evacuate.”

As the smoke infiltrated the cottonwood and salt cedar trees behind him during the press briefing, Propp said he didn’t anticipate any structures being threatened.

“Crews are anchoring the fire. We have bulldozers working on the north and south sides of the fire. We’re hoping to cut containment lines that should hold,” he said. “Hopefully the winds will remain relatively calm.”

Propp said he anticipates the fire to continue over the next few days because of the size, complexity and the heavy fuel load in the area.

“Crews have done a good job cutting the containment lines on the ground to slow the progress of the fire.”

Fire crews were also on hand to protect critical infrastructure to the north of the fire, which was named the Unified Fire, including a large natural gas pipeline, fiber optics and a BNSF railroad bridge.

Under State Forestry, Valencia County is working with a cooperator agreement, the resource mobilization plan where fire crews from towns such as Bernalillo, Cochiti and Rio Rancho arrive on scene to help.

Propp said there are two areas of fire they are working, a smaller one in the bosque and a larger fire on the edge of the river’s forest.

“What we did see early on was spot fires — caused by embers — ahead of the fire, so we were seeing four separate fires at one time,” Propp explained. “Those fires all combined at one point and that’s what we’re working.”

At this point, the cause of the fire has not been determined, but Propp said because there was no weather activity in the area, he believes it to be human caused. He said they won’t be able to determine the exact cause until they begin the investigation once the fire is contained.

The Rio Communities City Council declared a state of emergency Monday night due to severe drought and high fire risk. This area is within the Rio Communities Fire Department’s jurisdiction.