Wildfire — Central Lea County, New Mexico

2006-03-12 to 2006-03-13 · Central Lea County, New Mexico

Event narrative

An emergency flare at a gas plant near McDonald, New Mexico started a wildfire that grew to nearly 100,000 acres. Sustained wind speeds of 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 84 mph and very low relative humidity values contributed to the rapid growth and spread of this fire. These high winds occurred as both upper-level height gradients and surface pressure gradients tightened as a strong upper-level low pressure system approached southeastern New Mexico. The fire began around 10:30am MST and was visible on satellite by 11:00am MST. The NWS first learned of the fire through a cooperative observer in Tatum, New Mexico, who submitted a storm report online at 11:42am MST. New Mexico State Road 206 was closed by the New Mexico State Police between Tatum and McDonald due to the fire. News reports in later days indicated that the final acreage of the burn area was 92,390 acres. The fire was contained Monday, March 13th after burning down the U.S. Post Office, two primary residences, four abandoned homes, three barns, and several pieces of fire equipment. Two dozen fire departments fought to put out the fire and one man suffered burns and was treated at a burn center in Lubbock, Texas. All of the destroyed properties above were taken into account for the property damage estimate above. It is not known at this time if any crops were being grown in the area of the fire.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5496155. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.