No injuries in Thursday fires

Two fires on Thursday could have been much worse than they turned out to be, officials said.

A fire in a storage facility at Barnett Oil Co., at 617 First St. in Clovis, did not reach the volumes of kerosene and propane within the building, Clovis Battalion Chief Chet Chenault said, and there were no injuries.

In Roosevelt County, a wind-driven grass fire scorched 2,500 acres of vegetation, but no buildings were damaged and no injuries were reported, according to Portales Fire Chief T.J. Cathey, who was the incident commander.

In the Barnett Oil fire, the first call came in about 9 a.m., Chenault said, and 18 firefighters were dispatched to the scene along with hazardous materials specialists.

Chenault said the fire started in a corner of the building away from the fuels, and was confined to that area. The scene was cleared around noon, he said.

For the Roosevelt County blaze, firefighters were dispatched about 1:30 p.m., Cathey said. Soon, he said, they were joined by "an amazing joint effort" as crews and equipment arrived from Clovis, Arch, Texico, Farwell Pleasant Hill, County Line, Muleshoe, Dora, Causey, Floyd and Elida.

The Roosevelt County Road Department and Xcel Energy sent crews and equipment to the scene, Cathey said, while Roosevelt Count Sheriff's deputies and New Mexico State Police patrolled the area. The effort also received support from the Roosevelt County Ministerial Alliance.

The fire was fully contained at 5:30 p.m. Cathey said. The fire's cause is unknown.

Firefighters were busy much of last week, especially Wednesday.

About 2:40 p.m. Wednesday, the Clovis Fire Department responded to a grass fire along the north side of State Route 77 north of Clovis.

Clovis Deputy Fire Chief Fay Craigmile reported the blaze was on the north side of SR 77 "not far from the corn maze."

A tanker unit from Texico also arrived on the scene.

While extinguishing flames, firefighters also took protective measures to keep the fire away from homes located west, east and north of blaze, Craigmile said.

Firefighters also extinguished a small fire along a road at Ned Houk Park north of Clovis, while dealing with the blaze along State Route 77.

Craigmile reported Curry County sheriff's deputies were on the scene redirecting traffic due to heavy smoke.

The fire was contained about 4:40 p.m., Craigmile said, but firefighters continued to patrol for hotspots until just before 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.

At 6:22 p.m. on Wednesday, Clovis firefighters responded to a fire that damaged a mobile home at 224 Frontier Road. The fire also burned grass nearby, endangering other homes nearby, Craigmile said.

Clovis firefighters called in a tanker from Cannon Air Force Base to assure adequate water supply to fight the flames, which reached fencelines around the mobile home, Craigmile said.

The incident was declared done just before 8 p.m.

The extent of damage to the mobile home had not been determined on Friday.

Wildfires continued to plague all of New Mexico last week and on Friday, state officials announced restrictions on fireworks, smoking, campfires and open fires throughout the state.

Restrictions from the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) Forestry Division went into effect at noon Friday.