Fires & Our Spring Winds Are A Bad Mix.

- March 10, 2013

Fires, of any kind, when occurring during our spring winds are always a bad combination. I shot these photos (see more photos by clicking on the Read more link below) of a Mobile Home Trailer Park fire on south National Parks Highway in Carlsbad yesterday afternoon.

I first saw the smoke about a 1/2 of a mile north of the trailer park, and initially thought it was a grass fire behind the trailer park, since the smoke was light brown in color. Within a minute or so that it took me to drive to the entrance of the trailer park, one mobile home was already burning, and I decided that this was a bad idea to pull in there and try to help. Thick black smoke rolling across the trailer park made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of me at the entrance.

I couldn't believe how fast the flames spread and grew in the gusty westerly winds. The Carlsbad Airport ASOS reported a west wind sustained at 29 mph with gusts to 41 mph at 4:53 PM MST. Can you image what this fire might have done if those winds would have been gusting up to 60 mph or higher, which they can and often do on our more windy days?

My hat goes off to the Carlsbad Police, and Fire Departments. They responded really quickly to this one, good job! The police shut down National Parks Highway and traffic out there was crazy with all of the lookie loos, and the normal traffic.

Please, please be careful this spring folks with any type of outdoor activity that involves the use of sparks, or flame. Any fire that may be accidentally started can spread and grow really fast on our windy days. This is year three of our current ongoing drought, and it has the appearances of being another bad fire weather season.

The Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction!

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