[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.''

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