[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 16, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3980-S3981]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FIRES IN NEW MEXICO
Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I wanted to respond to the senior Senator
from New Mexico and his colleagues who have just spoken. All of us have
watched with great concern as this fire has caused such devastation in
the mountains of New Mexico and around Los Alamos.
I chair the Subcommittee on Forestry and Public Lands. For the last
decade we have known as a country that our forests are rapidly growing
unhealthy, largely because we have not managed them as skillfully as we
should. In areas that are natural and left to be natural, we understand
not touching them. But where we have forests in what we call urban
interface today, where houses are built amongst the trees, there ought
to be an aggressive effort to keep fuel loading down and to disperse
trees in such a way as to disallow these kinds of crises from
developing. It is happening now in New Mexico because of a major error
on the part of a Federal agency.
We literally have millions and millions of acres of forested public
lands around this country in an unsatisfactory condition, as in the
mountains of the great State of New Mexico, and one spark, one
lightning strike, or one human match could cost millions of dollars,
lose thousands of homes, and the land that it touches, it destroys for
a generation.
Oftentimes much greater environmental damage is done trying to put
out these fires than an organized manner of managing the land, to
control fuel loading, and those types of things that are now evident in
New Mexico.
We will work with the Senators from New Mexico. Those hearings will
be timely. There should be a report out by this Thursday that will give
us some indication of cause.
The Senator from New Mexico is absolutely right: There should be
extensive hearings on how and why it happened. Are there other areas
where this could happen across these United States?
I thank the Senator for his comments.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair recognizes the Senator from New
Mexico.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I have an article from the Albuquerque
Journal that talks about a marvelous man, Alton J. Posey, 68 years old.
Essentially, this 68-year-old retired man knew a lot about forests and
mountains. That was his job. He went out to save his mountain house,
which was his dream--a two-story log cabin in the mountains. He doused
himself with water, took his water hose, and stayed there and kept that
house from burning while things burned all around him.
I ask unanimous consent that the story explaining his life and what
he did be printed in the Record at the conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See Exhibit 1.)
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, there is a little town named Weed, NM,
which was hit by this fire. Terrible damage was done. It is on the
other side of the State in the southern section.
There is a detailed Associated Press account by Chaka Ferguson that
explains the details about that small town and what happened.
I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record at the
conclusion of my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See Exhibit 2)
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I thank the Senate in advance for the
generosity that it is going to show, as it always does for those who
suffer a disaster in this country.
I want to say to New Mexicans that the Senate won't let you down this
time either. We are going to do what we have to do to organize it
properly, put it in the right hands, and make all of you out there in
New Mexico whole, rebuild that lab where it needs to be built, and make
it safer where it ought to be safe so it can continue its marvelous
work in behalf of peace and freedom as it has done for so many decades.
I yield the floor.
Exhibit 1
Ex-Fireman Saves Home From Scott Able Blaze
retiree prevails over fire--one-man battle saves weed home
(By Rene Romo)
Weed.--The Scott Able Fire was raging on Agua Chiquita Road
west of this tiny village, but 68-year-old Alton J. Posey was
determined to protect his house, a two-story log cabin he
built for his retirement.
With an old firefighter's helmet perched on his head and
his pants drenched with water, Posey used a garden hose to
battle flare-ups.
He managed to save his dream house, but at lest 15 other
houses and structures burned to the ground a few hundred
yards away in nearby Wayland Canyon and along Agua Chiquita
on Thursday night.
``Everything at the end of the rainbow for me was at the
bottom of his hill,'' Posey said Saturday of his 11-acre
property, a preserve surrounded by blackened trees and
incinerated homes. ``At 68 years old, you're too old to start
again. And if a guy is determined and he knows he's right,
you can't whip him.''
Firefighters on Sunday had the 20,717-acre blaze, which cut
a swath about 20 miles wide from Scott Able Canyon east to
the Sacramento and Weed area, about 50 percent contained,
fire information officer Kris Fister said.
The fire was believed to have been sparked by a downed
power line in a 4-H camp about 16 miles south of Cloudcroft.
Fed by wind gusts, the fire churned across the Sacramento
Mountains in the Lincoln National Forest, covering nearly 20
miles Thursday night and Friday morning.
Along Agua Chiquita, the fire left charred refrigerators
and well pumps standing amid aluminum siding twisted like
noodles. At some homes, trucks sat on their wheel rims
because the tires were roasted away.
Milder winds Saturday and Sunday limited the blaze mainly
to ground fires and gave more than 300 firefighters from
around the West a chance to build a perimeter and douse hot
spots with five helicopters and six air tankers.
According to a preliminary estimate, the Scott Able Fire
destroyed 20 residences, 16 structures such as garages and
sheds, and six automobiles.
Among those who lost houses in Wayland Canyon were two of
Posey's neighbors, Maggie Bailey and Weed postmaster Francis
Visser. Posey allowed them to stay in his home while they
figure out what to do next.
Bailey moved to the area from Wisconsin two years ago with
her truck-driver husband, who was on the road during the
blaze. Bailey said she lost a motorhome, a small cabin and a
motorboat. She managed to save two cars and her pets--a dog
and two cats.
``I think I want to go back where there's more moisture,''
a dazed Bailey said Saturday evening ``What can you do?
You just . . . do.''
Otero County sheriff's deputy Sgt. Jeff Farmer also lost
his home.
``It's the little things you miss,'' said Farmer, who was
working a roadblock leading into Weed off N.M. 24 on
Saturday. He had been working almost nonstop since the fire
erupted Thursday evening. ``Yesterday morning, I didn't own
anything.''
Posey said ``it sounded like 10 trains'' when the blaze
roared down the mountainside behind his house, consuming 80-
foot-tall pine trees.
The former Artesia firefighter thoroughly drenched his log
cabin with a garden hose as the fire advanced Thursday. Later
that
[[Page S3981]]
evening, heat all around the house caused the building to
issue a cloud of steam.
From about 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., Posey, working frantically and
alone, scrambled about his property dousing thumb-sized
embers with a bucket.
Flames burned a hole in the wall of a barn about 50 feet
from his home before Posey extinguished the flare-up.
Several times during the night, he said, he had to drop to
the ground to gulp air. And once during the evening, a wild-
eyed doe charged out of the burning forest and crashed into
him.
Posey said he refused three requests by local authorities
to evacuate but sent his wife and two neighbors off Thursday
evening. The goodbye became emotional when Posey told his
wife of 47 years, Carol, to take his dog, a blue heeler named
Ugly, with her.
``I was just just wondering if I would ever see him alive
again.'' Carol Posey said Sunday, noting that she left her
home with nothing but medicine and her pets. ``It was a scary
time, I tell you what. You didn't have time to think. You
didn't have time to do anything.''
Alton Posey recounted their goodbye: ``I said, `Don't you
fret. This is the kind of hand I can play. I had a good
supply of water, a good pressure pump, and my old coat.' ''
Meanwhile, the 8,650-acre Cree Fire east of Ruidoso was 94
percent contained as of early Sunday, and a single helicopter
doused hot spots. The fire is expected to be under control by
Wednesday.
____
Exhibit 2
Town Full of Stories After Fire
(By Chaka Ferguson)
Weed, N.M.--Under a blue sky, with a row of apple trees
serving as an outdoor wedding chapel, newlyweds Chris Mydock
and Kendra Goss-Mydock proved why this mountain community,
population 20, is known to some of its residents as a town of
100 stories.
Two days earlier, a raging wild-fire ripped through the
Sacramento Mountains, burning at least two dozen buildings
about a mile from where the Mydocks consecrated their wedding
Saturday. When they took their vows, an evacuation order was
still in effect.
In the background, wisps of white smoke rose from the
hills. A helicopter hovered above, prepared to drop water on
remaining hot spots. Firefighters milled around, awaiting
orders.
But like life in this resilient community, the wedding went
on.
``The pastor called us yesterday and asked us if we're
still on, and we said, `Yep, we're still on,''' said Goss-
Mydock, 31, a lifelong resident of Weed, as she posed for
pictures with her new husband before a sign that read ``Weed:
pop, 20''.
The communities that dot the Southern New Mexico mountains
have pulled together since a wild-fire erupted in a nearby
canyon Thursday and spread to more than 20,000 acres,
rivaling the bigger blaze in the north that scorched Los
Alamos.
The Mydocks wanted to share their wedding with the
community to help heal some of the pain caused by the fire's
destruction.
``The people are really close to each other; it's like one
big family here. Everybody cares about everybody else,''
Goss-Mydock said.
The preacher and his wife, who served as the witness,
attended the wedding. The Mydocks then had their reception
down a dirt road that bisects the community with patrons of
the Weed Cafe, a gathering place for residents seeking news
on the fire.
The family-run restaurant which also houses the community's
post office, stayed open during the tense days and nights of
the fire and the following evacuation, donating food and
other provisions to firefighters and evacuees. Some residents
ignored the evacuation and stayed put, others took up
residence with friends or relatives.
``I stayed open to supply hot coffee to the people and
provide telephones,'' said Gary Stone, 45, who lives several
miles down the road in Miller Flats. ``I was making sure the
coffee was on and the doors were open.''
____________________