Fire Officials Update Residents on Fire Safety and Wildfire Preparedness at Community Meeting

County Fire officials, along with a representative of the Forest Service, briefed Tesuque residents on the Pacheco Wildfire, demonstrated simulation equipment to show how quickly a wildfire can travel, and provided information on emergency preparedness at a meeting Wednesday meeting in the Tesuque Fire Station.

    More than 80 residents from Tesuque, Chupadero, Rio en Medio, Vista Redonda, and other neighborhoods attended the meeting arranged by Santa Fe County Commissioner Daniel Mayfield.

   “The Pacheco Wildfire is close to our community, residents need to be well informed and have an organized plan in the case of any future emergencies,” Mayfield said.

     Sandy Hurlocker, from the Santa Fe National Forest, began the evening with a description of the current conditions of Pacheco Fire. Essentially the fire fighters have managed to build a horseshoe shaped defensive line that will keep the fire from coming toward our area.  The fire has remained within its containment lines on the northwest, west and south sides. It will continue to burn toward the northeast, although Hurlocker said the fire is now slowing down. With this progress, firefighters are beginning to remove excess equipment from the firelines. In short, the current danger to communities below the fire has passed.

     Nonetheless, Martin Vigil, director of Santa Fe County Emergency Management, urged residents not to be complacent and to take steps to be prepared. He suggested that residents work on making their properties safer and prepare a list of items they would want to take if they had to evacuate. He also suggested that residents make their own decision as to when to leave rather than waiting for an evacuation order, “If you feel threatened,” Vigil said, “we want you to move out of harms way.”

      Vigil described how the emergency officials would notify residents should an evacuation be necessary. The first system that could be used is called “reverse 911.” It permits the county to call residents and provide a thirty-second message. However, the current equipment is old and only capable of making 44 calls a minute. Furthermore these systems have a 60 percent failure rate because people block many incoming phone calls or are away from their houses.

     Vigil can also use the Emergency Alarm System maintained by broadcasters. In fact, he said he sent out a message on this system the day the Pacheco Fire broke out in hopes of reaching campers and hikers with a warning.

    Finally, Vigil said sheriff deputies and firefighters might be dispatched to go from house to house with an evacuation order. But he repeatedly counseled that one should leave if one feels in danger rather than wait for an order.

    Leaving a place of danger is the best precaution one can take, according to J.D. Damaron, Tesuque’s Fire Chief. Remaining at one’s house trying to use a garden hose to fight a wildfire is bad idea. “You do not want to be in the burn center,” Damaron said. Remaining also endangers firefighters who frequently are called on to rescue a foolhardy individual who stayed and draws needed personnel away from doing their job.

    Instead Damaron suggested residents take steps to make their property safer from wildfires now and more accessible to firefighters. This will make it more likely the house will survive a fire. If a wildfire breaks out, firefighters will try to protect defensible homes. “We are going to save a house that can be saved,” he said.

    At the end of the evening Krys Nystrom, from the Santa Fe County Fire Safety Division, demonstrated the SimTable, which helps visualize the spread of fires in three dimensions. In 2009, Nystrom assessed all the houses in Vista Redonda. You can access a map of the neighborhood and your own house fire rating here.

How You Can Help the Evacuees from Los Alamos

View of the Las Conchas Fire on its first night from here.

Vista Redonda residents Harvey Stone and Fleur Green sent in this bit of useful information for those in the neighborhood--or neighbors who are away--who want to help the 12,000 people who have been evacuated from Los Alamos because of the Las Conchas fire.
    They report that this link will provide information on ways you can make financial contribution on line or drop off food donations.
   

Tips on Being Ready for a Fire

If we are forced to leave the neighborhood this summer by a fire, here are some tips from a list that is currently being circulated by email:

• Cars are combustible and cannot be parked near structures or people and need to be parked away from the evacuation site. Do not block any roads. Use only one car or no cars. Try to avoid traffic jams or evacuation will grind to a halt and fire trucks will not be able to reach the sites. Keep car windows closed to protect from smoke. Evacuating with cars and trucks full of things is only done when there is advanced warning to evacuate the valley. If you are fleeing to a safe zone, this is a life saving maneuver and not the time to take lots of items.
• Pets need to be on leashes or in cages. Bring their food.
• Smoke and grass fires are more lethal.  If there is wind, you will not be able to stop a fire with a garden hose nor will you be able to out run it. [20 mph wind=20/mph fire]. Evacuate immediately to one of    the safe zones. If there is no wind, a different strategy is possible...hoses, calling for help, etc. If in doubt, leave.
• Fires move fast up hills but most of our hills are sparse. If you are trapped, climb up and out to open land only if you can. Be mindful of smoke, wind, and direction and location of the fire. Best to be in the safe zone where help is likely on its way.
• Have an "essentials list" for an extreme emergency.
• You should have a separate list for an early evacuation of the valley. This includes the personal property list of items that you would really hate to lose.
• Using wet blankets to protect from smoke and fire is dangerous. They can sear lungs and skin.
• Now is the time to remove all combustibles from near your house. For example, stacks of wood, propane bar.b.que or other propane bottles, chemicals, piles of junk. In the event of an evacuation, try to remove wicker or wood furniture or other combustibles out into the open, away from portals. The fire folk will decide what houses are able to be defended. Those that are defendable will be first priority. Try not to interfere with their work. Notes on a door saying where you have gone or if there is a pet missing are appropriate.
• Keep dry and green grasses and weeds mowed on your property. Fires often start in the grasses and then travel to bushes, then to trees, houses, piles, etc. If that is too much, mow 50 foot wide fire breaks near risky areas such as near the bosque, neighbors with dense properties, etc.

Painting our Roads Red

Vista Redonda roads are featuring stripes of red paint as well as small flags. These new decorations are in preparation for major work to be done by PNM sometime in 2011. According to Jeanette Yardman, of the Santa Fe office of PNM, the underground cable bringing electricity to our houses will be dug up and replaced. Most of the work will take place on Paseo Encantado and Vista Redonda. It will be completed by a private contractor whose work will be supervised by a PNM inspector. Yardman promised that PNM will conduct a community outreach program prior to the work to alert everyone.