‘All Hands on Deck’: Cherry Hills wildfire under investigation – Silver City Daily Press and Independent

Strong, shifting winds Wednesday drove a large brush fire in the middle of Silver City that officials say burned 4.5 acres in less than two hours.

In addition to 10 members of the Silver City Fire Department, a combined 37 firefighters from the Tyrone, Pinos Altos and Whiskey Creek volunteer departments arrived on the scene to fight the blaze, which Silver City Fire Chief Milo Lambert said started in the area of Canal and 20th streets, along Pinos Altos Creek.

The cause is still under investigation, and is undetermined at this time, said incident commander Capt. Nate Schwarz of the Silver City Fire Department.

A five-person crew with a Type 3 engine was dispatched by the Silver City Ranger District of the Gila National Forest, which also deployed a massive Type 1 helicopter to drop approximately 2,300 gallons of water to slow the fires progression and assist firefighters on the ground, said Marta Call, public affairs officer for the Gila National Forest.

The helicopter is prepositioned at the Gila National Forest Tanker Base at the Grant County Airport, where the Forest Service has a pumper stationed, Call added. Thats where the helicopter got the water.

All personnel responded from both our stations, and so did a couple off-duty personnel, Schwarz said. It was an all-hands-on-deck situation. We got the call at 1:50 p.m., and arrived on-scene at 1:57. We had the fire contained at 3:25 p.m., and all fire units cleared the scene at 8:19 p.m. We called it completely out at that time, and were still monitoring the area.

We dont know the cause, he continued, but were pretty sure it was due to misuse of fire. We have a state and local order in effect, and there is no open burning due to fire danger.

Schwarz said Wednesdays blaze was a perfect example of why people need to be particularly cautious about sources of ignition in areas known as wildland-urban interfaces, known as a WUI a zone between undeveloped and developed land.

There were no injuries among the public or firefighters, and no structures were damaged as a result of the fire, although Schwarz noted that several different neighborhoods were threatened by what he described as a very significant fire.

Houses and apartments off Pine Street and Kimberly Drive, Paul Place all were in immediate danger, Schwarz said, as were numerous houses and other structures along Silver Street and Maple Street, where dwellings back onto the undeveloped open space around Pinos Altos Creek.

As winds shifted around 2:20 p.m., large trees along the creek and in the open space began to catch fire, causing a handful of deer and other creatures to flee.

Pine Street resident Gerry Bartells stood on the bank of Pinos Altos Creek with some of his neighbors and looked southeast as the blaze crept closer to his home.

Theres a fox den right there, he said, pointing to an unburned part of the field, as a young deer ran in circles several times before launching itself west across the creek to safety.

Schwarz said that, fortunately, the wind remained predominantly out of the west and southwest, largely driving the blaze into the open space and away from homes in the Silver Heights neighborhood.

As the wind changed direction several times, however, and before crews had fully deployed on the north side of the fire, the large gray-black column of smoke and flames began moving toward residences on Oak Street between Silver Street and Pinos Altos Creek. Residents scrambled to move vehicles out of the way as firetrucks set up at the edge of the creek. Some Oak Street residents briefly contemplated evacuating their homes, but were reassured by the calm and collected presence of Lambert, who told them: Weve got this.

Across the open space that lies just east of Oak Street and the creek, Jim and Phyllis McQuaide were also getting nervous as flames licked the chain link fence on the west side of The Gardens, a gated community off Pine Street that they and dozens more senior-aged residents call home.

It was 20 feet away from us. We could feel the heat through the windows, Jim McQuaide said. The wind shifted it started going toward us and it got scary. We thought we were going to be evacuated.

When Forest Service and other firefighters arrived at The Gardens, began to extinguish spot fires and quickly fanned out to contain the main blaze, residents breathed a sigh of relief.

We are so thankful for the response from not just our police and fire company, but all the volunteer firefighters and the Forest Service, McQuaide said.

GEOFFREY PLANT

(Press Staff Photo by Geoffrey Plant)A Forest Service helicopter dropped thousands of gallons of water onto the blaze from a bladder suspended beneath it. Incident commander Capt. Nate Schwarz of the Silver City Fire Department told the Daily Press that the fire had threatened multiple neighborhoods and numerous structures, but no damage was sustained.

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'All Hands on Deck': Cherry Hills wildfire under investigation - Silver City Daily Press and Independent