U.S. Forest Service and Lincoln National Forest officials are asking for the public’s help with information on the vandalization of four utility terrain vehicles (UTVs).
The vehicles are owned by a U.S. Forest Service Interagency Hotshot Crew that was assigned to fight the McBride Fire.
The vandalism took place in mid-April “at the end of Eagle Creek Road where the pavement ends and it turns to dirt,” a post on the Village of Ruidoso’s Facebook page said.
“And sometime overnight, some vandals got in there,” Mike Defries, an information officer for the Southwest Incident Management Team, told KOB 4. “It looked like they kind of ransacked the vehicles, looking for whatever they could steal.”
A pair of bolt cutters was stolen and two of the vehicles had ignitions punched out. This led officials to speculate that the vandals were attempting to steal the vehicles, which were replaced.
“Hotshots and other firefighting personnel use UTVs to access parts of the fire where regular vehicles cannot go,” the Facebook post said. “Thankfully, this unfortunate incident has not hampered fire suppression efforts.”
People who have information can call the Lincoln County Sherriff’s Office at 575-648-2341.
Jeff Towarnicki expressed support on Facebook for the firefighters.
“You can't be serious,” Towarnicki said. “These guys are going to have a busy summer; give them a break. Now there is a fire breaking out in Arizona outside Prescott. They will need all the equipment this summer they can get.”
As of April 20, the McBride Fire involved 6,159 acres and was 89% contained, New Mexico Fire Information reported. The fire started on April 12 at Gavilan Canyon in Ruidoso. It resulted in the burning of over 200 primary structures and multiple outbuildings.
