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.