Agencies work on year-round wildfire plan for metro area

April 13, 2011

Albuquerque's fire chief met with other local agencies on Tuesday to come up with a plan for restrictions in fire-prone areas around the metro. Every year, areas around the state are put under fire restrictions. But AFD Chief James Breen now wants to develop a comprehensive strategy which he's hoping could be in place throughout the entire year. "We're looking at one of the worst seasons that we've seen going back 10 years. And if you compare this, we're on track with some of the biggest fire years, such as the Los Alamos Fire year," said City of Albuquerque Wild land Program Manager Jeremiah Hansen. It's the worst news New Mexicans can hear: We're sitting on a sitting timber box. "Things such as your energy release components, your burn indexes; those tell us how much fuel is ready to burn right now if it starts. And the numbers on those are trending the maximum ever seen in some of our areas," said Hansen. KOB Eyewitness News 4 was there for a multi-agency meeting at the Albuquerque Fire Academy, where authorities addressed the extreme fire risk in the bosque, foothills and West Mesa.