Acoma ready for fire season

Mike Pino, a Firefighter for the Pueblo of Acoma, shares a laugh with a fellow firefighter while cleaning a four wheel drive fire truck at the Pueblo of Acoma Fire House on Thursday afternoon. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

Chad Shutiva, a Firefighter and EMT for the Pueblo of Acoma, cleans the wildfire response trailer at the Pueblo of Acoma Fire House on Thursday afternoon. Wildfire season is right around the corner and New Mexico Fire Departments are preparing for the season. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

PUEBLO OF ACOMA — Here comes fire season.

"We have completed our wildland fire training and are getting our equipment ready. We're now geared up for wildland fire season," said Tony Boyd, fire chief at the Pueblo of Acoma Fire and Rescue Department.

Wildland fire season, which may have started in February this year because of the large wildland fire in Belen, usually is from April through the end of September, he said.

His department has 22 firefighters who cover the nearly 450 square miles of back country within the Pueblo's nearly 900 acres, he said.

Fire safety tips
Boyd offered some tips for people who live on the edge of urban areas adjacent to wildlands, to create a buffer zone called "a fire defensability area."

"In order to prevent wildland fire from consuming the individual's home, they should clear brush and trees for between 60 to 100 feet from the edges of the home. There is a mechanism that fire uses to get to trees and homes called 'ladder' fire," he said.

"Ladder fire" begins when low-lying brush catches fire. That brush is next to large bushes that then catch. Those bushes are next to trees which catch fire, and debris such as flaming tree limbs can fall on the top or the side of a house making it catch.

It is important to keep yards well watered and wood piles and other away from a home, he said.

"If firefighters are working a fire and they see wood piles, brush and trees next to a house, and there are other homes in jeopardy, those firefighters will not try to save that home because it is useless to do so, and will move on to homes they can save because of defensible zones," Boyd said.

Wildland fires can be any size, Boyd said, from less than one acre to thousands of acres.

Human-caused fires
One of the biggest dangers facing fire departments in rural New Mexico is human-caused fires.

"People go camping and do not extinguish their fires properly. The wind comes up, catches some embers and takes those embers into the brush and trees and we have a wildland fire," he said.

Drown campfires, he said. Pour water on the fire repeatedly and then cover it up with dirt to make sure it is out. That way the chance of that fire staring a wildland fire that uses resources and sometime requires additional resources, such as the Southern Pueblo Agency, an arm of the BIA, which provides firefighters and equipment on call, is decreased.

"During the height of wildland fire season, the agency stations an engine either here on the Pueblo of Acoma or at Laguna," Boyd said.

"This year, the Forest Service and National Weather Service have projected a less than average wildfire season because of all the moisture last year and this winter," Boyd said. "But, even though they are pretty accurate in their forecasting, they could be wrong." If back country conditions deteriorate, and higher temperatures combine with little or no humidity, then we could have wildland fires, he said.

Summer monsoon thunderstorms also bring lots of lightning, and some wildland fires are caused by lightning strikes.

Wildland fire equipment
Acoma Fire and Rescue wildland fire equipment consists of:

• Brush truck — A fire engine pumper that carries 350 gallons of water and many fire hoses. It has the capability of pumping water from streams or ponds, and it can connect to other water vehicles to that water directly.
  
  
• John Deere Trailgator — An ATV that carries two firefighters and their equipment into very tight, dense areas. The ATV can drop individual firefighters off and make round trips carrying other firefighters to the spot quickly, if needed.
  
  
• Tanker — A water tanker carrying 2,100 gallons of water. It can be connected to the brush engine to provide its full capacity of water and then return to a water course, if needed, refill, and return to the fire site.
  
  
• Wildland trailer — A trailer pulled by other vehicles carrying equipment and personal protective gear for firefighters.
  
  The trailer carries rakes, shovels, swatter and Pulaski tools, which are specialized for wildland firefighting and look like pick axes. Each firefighter had his own personal gear included in the trailer, consisting of helmet, jackets, pants, boots, gloves and breathing equipment.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail: jtiffin.independent@yahoo.com.