Silver Fire Update: New Mexico

June 18 PM News Release: Smoke Visible From El Paso

Incident: Silver Fire Wildfire
Released: 3 hrs. ago

The Silver Fire smoke column was near 30,000 feet today and visible from over 100 miles away. Firefighters were able to hold containment lines and protect the community of Kingston. The fire burned actively in Railroad Canyon, Carbonate Creek and Little Bear Canyon. Fire management officials expect the fire to be highly visible tomorrow.

Weather conditions are expected to further deteriorate Wednesday as wind gusts of up to 35 mph and single digit humidity is expected. The temperature is predicted to be in the mid 90’s. Incident Commander Matt Reidy said “the fire may grow another 2,000 to 6,000 acres tomorrow and is expected to be highly visible.

Tomorrow crews will continue indirect line construction on the west flank of the fire along existing trails and mop up and patrol in the Kingston and Royal John Mine area. One minor injury occurred today during fire line construction on the west side of the fire. The 24,800 acre fire remains five percent contained.

Resources include five helicopters, six 20-person hotshot crews, four 20-person hand crews, 15 engines, two dozers and 11 water tenders for a total of 538 firefighters.

Cooperators include the Grant and Sierra County Sheriff’s Departments, NM State Police, Las Cruces BLM District, NM State Forestry and NM Department of Transportation.

Daily public meetings continue to be held each morning at the Hillsboro Community Center at 10.

For more information on closures see http://fs.usda.gov/gila or www.nmroads.com.

Silver Fire updates can be found on Inciweb at http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/3414. For additional fire information visit the following websites: www.facebook.com/SilverFireNM, www.flickr.com/gilaforest, www.twitter.com/SilverFireNM

Source: inciweb

Reblogged: 6/18/13 2350 PDT

 

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