Crews gain ground on New Mexico wildfire as Colorado blaze rages
By Rich McKay (Reuters) - Sunday's rains helped subdue part of a New Mexico wildfire, allowing the 1,100 residents of Cimarron to return to their homes by midday on Monday, but a second fire in neighboring Colorado was largely uncontained, officials said. The 75 or so residents of the small community of Ute Park, New Mexico, near its border with Colorado, remained under mandatory evacuation orders on Monday, said Judith Dyess, spokeswoman for the multi-agency Southwest Incident Management Team working that blaze. "The rains came and we're glad of it," said Dyess. "But it didn't do it. We're still burning out of control" on the fire's western edge. In Colorado, some 250 miles (402.34 km) away near Durango, a blaze called the 416 Fire had raged across more than 2,255 acres (912.5 hectares) by Monday morning, and forced the evacuation of about 825 homes, said Megan Graham, spokeswoman for La Plata County where the fire is burning. The Colorado blaze was 10-percent contained by Monday morning, officials said. No injuries or deaths or destroyed homes have been reported in either of the fires that started late last week, officials said. Dyess said the Ute Park Fire in New Mexico had torched more than 36,000 acres (14,569 hectares) by early on Monday, and that it was 23-percent contained, up from zero containment on Sunday morning. The rains that aided firefighting efforts in New Mexico on Sunday have moved on and no more was expected soon, the National Weather Service said. Monday brought a measure of relief to Cimarron residents after some anxious moments late last week, the village's clerk-administrator, Shawn Jeffrey, told Reuters by telephone. She described Cimarron as an "Old West town" complete with a hotel that claims to be haunted. Jeffrey was among the few who stayed behind to keep city hall open. The fire got within 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of the village, she said. "I'd say it was awfully scary," she said. "North of town, you could see a wall of red glow." Cimarron is about 140 miles (225 km) northeast of Albuquerque, the state's largest city. Ute Park is about 10 miles (16 km) west of Cimarron. The nearby Santa Fe National Forest was closed to the public indefinitely on Friday in a rare measure prompted by the heightened fire risk from prolonged drought. In southwestern Colorado, where it rained only 0.04 of an inch (1 mm) on Sunday, residents of 825 homes near Durango were evacuated, but nearly all found alternative housing, Graham said. (Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Editing by Frank McGurty and Sandra Maler)
