Firefighters battled a wildfire Thursday that destroyed two houses before flames jumped across the Rio Grande and forced evacuations in surrounding neighborhoods.
Fire crews initially responded to a house fire but wind gusts up to 35 mph carried the blaze to a second home nearby and then to trees across the river, said Fire Chief Bett Clark. Sixteen homes were evacuated.
A huge plume of smoke rose into the sky as fire engines were positioned to help protect homes, and a helicopter dropped water on the flames from overhead. Clark said high winds and dry terrain made conditions ripe for a fire.
Gov. Bill Richardson activated the state’s emergency operations center. “The good news is the fire is low but it’s windy — that’s not good,” he said. “We’re ready to do whatever is needed.”
The fire comes nearly a year after a pair of wildfires scorched more than 330 acres within Albuquerque’s city limits last summer. Those blazes forced the evacuations of several hundred homes.
The city enacted restrictions earlier this week that prohibited fireworks, campfires, open burning and smoking in the wooded area along the river.
“We have extreme fire conditions out there, and this was exactly what we were worried about,” Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez said.