Alpine Lodge Westcliffe Co

Focus of battle against huge Arizona wildfire shifts to New Mexico border

LUNA, N.M. — Crews who’ve been battling a massive wildfire in eastern Arizona for two weeks shifted their focus Monday to New Mexico, where they lit fires to stifle a flare-up that skipped along treetops toward a small mountain town.

In the opposite corner of New Mexico, near the Colorado border, a wildfire that had already forced hundreds of people from their homes more than doubled in size to an estimated 6,000 acres, or 9 square miles.

“We’re watching trees explode before our eyes. It’s horrendous,” said Barbara Riley, a schoolteacher and bed-and-breakfast owner in the northeastern New Mexico community of Raton.

That blaze has closed 20 miles of the main north-south highway through New Mexico and Colorado, sending travelers hours out of their way.

At the Wallow fire Monday, crews worked furiously to protect the working-class mountain town of Luna, N.M., after a successful weekend of no major fire growth.

Hundreds of firefighters worked alongside U.S. Highway 180 between Luna and the state line, hacking down brush and using chain saws to cut down trees. The other side of the road was blackened from the fires they set to clear a break.

At Luna Lake in Arizona, a steady stream of helicopters sucked up water and flew west to attack flames sending up a huge plume of thick, grey smoke from the pines. Fire officials said the flare-up was in the tree crowns, an ominous sign that the fire was gaining. It was still more than three miles from Luna.

Earlier Monday, Catron County Undersheriff Ian Fletcher said he had not ordered the 200 or so residents of Luna to leave, but had a plan in case it was needed.

Residents of two Arizona towns on the fire’s northern edge were allowed to go back home Sunday, and thousands streamed into Eagar and Springerville through the day. Crews have stopped its northern advance and are now trying to corral its eastern advance into New Mexico by burning a line in front of the fire that it can’t cross.

The wildfire near the New Mexico-Colorado border started Sunday on the west side of Interstate 25 and then jumped to the east side. Between 800 and 1,000 people were asked overnight to leave their homes northeast of Raton.

The fire prompted the closure of I-25 from Trinidad, Colo., to Raton, sending summer motorists on lengthy detours. Fire officials confirmed that two structures were burned, but they could not say whether they were homes, businesses or outbuildings.

alvie's genealogy spot: Vacation in the Rocky Mountains

Here is where everyone should spend some time to just unwind and relax. I love bluegrass music. After finding out about an annual festival in Westcliffe, CO I made reservations for my wife and I to attend the 2009 High Mountain Hay Fever festival, July 9-12. We had a difficult time getting housing but finally found a cabin about 9 miles into the mountains at a place called Alpine Lodge. Wonderful scenery in all directions. This lodge operates a small restaurant and their food is superb. They mostly serve dinner either indoors or on a patio overlooking the valley below. Our travel from Florida to Denver, CO was by Amtrak. We had our own private sleeper compartment with all meals provided. After arrival in Denver we visited with a friend over breakfast and rose early the next morning for a 3 hr drive to Westcliffe. The picture above was taken just a few minutes outside of Westcliffe along a narrow two lane road.

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