Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
A mobile home at RR4 near Portales was declared a total loss.
The holiday weekend began with a reminder of fire danger in the region.
A mobile home on the 1400 block of Roosevelt Road 4 in Roosevelt County caught fire around noon Thursday after a controlled burn “got out of hand and got under the mobile home,” said Portales Fire Department Battalion Chief T.J. Cathey.
The structure was a total loss, but no injuries were reported, he said.
Cathey said he did not know if anyone lived in the mobile home.
Friday saw three fires in Curry County, namely around mile marker 11 off of Highway 209, according to Clovis Fire Department Chief Michael Nolen.
“They were about a mile apart, and it appears to have been started from sparks from a vehicle ... Because there were three of them, it didn’t appear to be a cigarette or anything,” Nolen said.
The fires were in “very small areas right off the east side of (state highway) 209,” and were all quickly contained, Nolen said.
After a spring and summer of near-record rainfall, warm and dry weather is creating fire concerns as the year ends.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque said Friday marked the 50th consecutive day without measurable rain in Albuquerque.
While the state’s most populous area is still far from setting any dryness records, many parts of New Mexico are seeing unseasonably warm temperatures that are helping to dry out soils and exacerbate the problem.
Many New Mexico cities saw high temperatures in the 70s on Thursday and Friday. Forecasters say New Mexico is on track to mark the warmest November on record.
As for moisture, the latest maps show abnormally dry and low-level drought conditions have expanded slightly along the Arizona-New Mexico border.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
