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CNN Live Sunday

Fires in New Mexico Destroy at Least 30 Homes

Aired March 24, 2002 - 18:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: In the meantime, we've got some news to cover for you. Out in New Mexico, four raging fires have destroyed at least 30 homes and thousands of acres. The biggest fires scorched nearly 12,000 acres and now the cause, well it's looking like human error. The fires started yesterday after a resident dumped smoldering ashes in their backyard.

Reporter Tim Blotz from CNN affiliate KOAT joins us now with the latest from there -- Tim.

TIM BLOTZ, KOAT REPORTER: Well, Carol, the Kokopeli (ph)fire here in Ruidoso is pretty much under control tonight. There are a number of hot spots that firefighters are now working on. These are fires that are fingered out in the northern end of town, in those areas where the homes burned yesterday.

But the real concern right now is the fire that is burning south and east of here. This one is called the Number 5, Number 2 fire and that is burning on the Mescalera (ph) Apache Reservation. This fire is now greater than 10,000 acres in size. In fact, firefighters this afternoon have evacuated folks from three separate areas.

Now what is driving these fires are the fierce winds that we have out here. In fact, some of the peak gusts yesterday were in excess of 60 miles an hour. That is what fanned them. Today, we have sustained winds of between 30 and 40 miles an hour.

While we don't know what the exact cause is of that Number 5, Number 2 fire burning in Mescalero Apache here, Carol, as you mentioned, they suspect it was a homeowner who dumped out some ashes from his fireplace that caused this.

Our governor, Governor Gary Johnson, very concerned about the implications of this fire. He overflew the area this morning and when he landed, he said this is really a warning call now for the rest of the State of New Mexico, because as this fire starts this early now in the season, we're about a month ahead of our peak fire season schedule.

This is a real warning call, a real wake-up call for the rest of the state now to make some and take some preventative efforts before more fires start breaking out across New Mexico. Reporting live in Ruidosa, New Mexico, I'm Tim Blotz for CNN. Now back to you, Carol. LIN: All right, thank you very much, Tim, and we can already see just by the trees in the background how much the wind is beginning to pick up there.

BLOTZ: It's windy here.

LIN: Yes, all right. Well hope for the best. Thank you very much. Tim Blotz reporting from our affiliate KOAT.

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