Brush Fire Carlsbad Caverns National Park

RB250129, originally uploaded by Robert Brown...

Photo taken on 5-25-10.

This is a copy of the news release that is put out daily at 08:00am in reference to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park Brush Fire.

You can find this info as well as others on their website:

http://nmfireinfo.wordpress.com/

New Fire Update
Posted on May 27, 2010 by npsnmfireinfo
Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM—- Firefighters on the New Fire located near Carlsbad, New Mexico continue to work on containment lines around the northwest perimeter of the fire to protect oil and gas facilities on BLM lands. Fire crews continue to patrol and monitor existing fire lines on the east side of the fire. On the west side the fire is burning in steep, inaccessible, rocky terrain and the fuels are mostly a mixture of grass and shrubs. This fire was started by lightning on May 16, 2010. The 450 acre Yucca Fire remains inactive.
The New Fire is currently 17,235 acres total and is 50 percent contained. Personnel assigned to the fire total 399 and include 9 hand crews, 4 helicopters, 9 engines, 15 water tenders, 149 overhead personnel, and 2 camp crews. Many of the resources supporting the fire are volunteer fire departments from throughout New Mexico. Park Superintendent John Benjamin stated, “Volunteer departments play a vital role in the support of wildland fire fighting efforts. I would like to thank all of the firefighters, the local community and the cooperating agencies that assisted us in the support of this incident.”

The main cave at Carlsbad Caverns remains open for visitors. All backcountry trails, including Yucca Canyon Trail, Slaughter Canyon Trail, and the Rattlesnake Canyon Trail remain closed for public safety due to fire activity. The Sitting Bull Falls Day Use Area is open on the Lincoln National Forest. Open fires including cigarettes, camp fires, and stoves are currently not allowed.

For fire information, please call 575-644-9678 or 801-928-7040 or visit www.inciweb.org.

0800 May 27, 2010