Story Filed: Sunday, March 24, 2002 11:28 AM EST
ALTO, N.M. (AP) -- Firefighters battled a grass and timber fire Sunday that had burned through at least 30 homes in southern New Mexico as strong winds continued to spread the flames.
Three separate fires in the area had consumed about 11,000 acres by Sunday morning. Two were burning on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation; the third was burning in subdivisions near Alto.
The fire near Alto was moving northeast Sunday, away from the town, but some homes remained in its path, said Jerome MacDonald, chief for firefighting crews of the Southwest Area Incident Management Team.
``We're expecting the same conditions as yesterday as far as the winds, maybe not 60 miles per hour, but 45, maybe a little drop in humidity if it can be any drier than 11 percent,'' MacDonald said.
The fire started around noon in a residential driveway, Lincoln County Sheriff Tom Sullivan said.
``It's very suspicious the way it started,'' Sullivan said. ``It's just in an area where there wasn't anybody around. We're just not sure why it got started there.''
Terri Wildermuth, spokeswoman for the state Forestry Division, said the fire near Alto was ``human caused'' but declined to elaborate.
``What started out as a small pocket of flames -- all of a sudden, they burst up on the side of the mountain,'' said Cecile Batchelor, who lives nearby.
Copyright © 2002 Associated Press Information Services, all rights reserved.
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