The San Juan County Fire Department is on alert for wildfires as the Four Corners region experiences drought and high wind.
Deputy Chief David Vega of San Juan County Fire and Rescue warned that fields around Farmington are abnormally dry and ready to ignite and start a fire, according to KOB 4. This level of fire danger is due to the extreme drought and high winds that New Mexico is facing, which is causing the fields to dry out and cause a potential spark to light and spread rapidly.
"You can see in the back of me, we got a lot of cured fields that [are] available for a fire so, right now, the fire situation is high and it's a pretty dire situation," Vega told KOB 4. "Grass makes contact with the muffler or catalytic converter [and] sets the grass on fire; chains dragging from trucks can throw sparks out, carelessly discarded cigarettes."
Reducing the possibility of sparks is essential to reducing the possibility of fires since it takes time for the fire department to be notified, then assemble resources to fight and suppress the fire.
The fire department will take further measures to reduce the risk of fire, including prohibiting the sale of certain fireworks in the dryer months and issuing a burn ban.
“If you do have a small fire and obviously that fire is being pushed by winds, it does create some challenges being so vastly spread out; sometimes, it takes us a little while to get to fires. [That time] allows the fire to grow until we have enough resources on scene to suppress it,” Vega told KOB 4.
