Long distance help for White Fire Ruidoso Free Press
6
April 12, 2011
By Eddie Farrell Editor
Jay Bertek, head of a 20-man “hotshot” crew from California looked every inch a worn out man. “I’m telling you, I’ve been doing this for 35 years, and these conditions are the worst I’ve ever seen,” Bertek said Wednesday while working out a logistical problem along with crewmember Andrew Minor at the Ruidoso Convention Center. “Unless conditions change, we’re in for a long summer.” Bertek and Minor were called out from Arizona, where their U.S. Forest Service “Type I” team, called El Cariso Hotshots, was working a fire. Their home base is in Riverside County, Calif., and travelling from fire to fire, and being considered amongst the best, is what this pair and their team does. The team arrived in Ruidoso Monday, part of a multi-state callout for firefighters and equipment to help contain the White Fire, the now more than 10,000 acre fire that erupted Sunday afternoon in Ruidoso Downs. Minor said the team has been deployed continuously since March 4 “bouncing around to fires in Arizona and New Mexi-
Eddie Farrell/Ruidoso Free Press
Andrew Minor, left, and Jay Bertek were called off a fire line in Douglas, Ariz. to assist in the fight on the White Fire. The pair are members of the El Cariso Hotshots from Riverside County, Calif. Read more: RuidosoFreePress.com: Firefighters from all over fight White Fire co.”
The pair were coming off the line from a fire in Douglas, Ariz., when their dispatcher told them “we’ve got another assignment for you,” he said. Hours later, the crew was in Ruidoso. Minor said he is part of a
saw crew, a front-line firefighter whose job it is to reduce fuel. Type I crews, Minor said, are selected for their experience, stamina and the absolute willingness to go toe-to-toe with fire. “We go where most crews can’t because of our ability to
Budget crisis averted; area still feels threat
By Patrick Jason Rodriguez Reporter
Although Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress reached an agreement Friday night on the US budget to stave off the first government shutdown since 1995-96, the debate on federal spending is far from over. The House and Senate must still hash out the final details of this latest resolution (reductions in spending are a reported more than $38 billion) by the end of the week, and already there have been reports of a possible long battle ahead in Washington regarding the 2012 federal budget, meaning that a federal stoppage could still be in the cards. All of this no doubt has some close to home worried and confused. How Lincoln County, like all local governments across the country, would be affected by a shutdown depends mostly on how long such a thing lingers. The stoppage in 1995-96 was the longest in history and lasted for 21 days. The county is home to 137 federal workers, according to most recent figures released by the US Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and how many of these would be furloughed – issued mandatory unpaid time off – or otherwise is unclear. Federal workers whose jobs are not needed to safeguard public health and safety and to protect life and property would be furloughed. Military personnel, air traffic controllers, the border patrol, the FBI, prison guards, health care personnel, law enforcement personnel and bank overseers, though, would be required to work without receiving their regularly scheduled paychecks on the first and 15th of each month; however, they would receive all pay that not issued during a shutdown once the president and
Congress agree on a budget. Lincoln County Manager Tom Stewart on Friday afternoon, hours before the deadline, was optimistic, saying that in the event of a federal government shutdown the county could handle such a thing without too much of a strain no matter how long it would last. “I feel certain that we can survive a federal shutdown a number of months,” he said. Aside from some federal workers feeling the brunt of a shutdown, a stoppage could have a trickle-down effect that would reach non-government personnel. Payments for entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and unemployment insurance would be unaffected by a shutdown. Some agencies, however, might not have personnel on duty to process new applications or resolve disputes; a shutdown that lasted for months would increase the chances of a delay in medical payments to doctors and hospitals. But government-run benefit systems such as the Office of Veterans Affairs would remain open during a shutdown. Likewise, the US Postal Service would continue to function and operate as though nothing will have changed. Republican Rep. Steve Pearce, who represents New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District, which includes all of Lincoln County, voted against Friday night’s budget agreement. In a statement issued shortly after the agreement, the congressman said, “I voted against tonight’s agreement because our goal must be greater than to merely avoid a shutdown. … I voted against tonight’s plan because it is not enough. For decades, both parties have tolerated rampant fiscal irresponsibility. Tonight’s outcome does little to demonstrate that Washington has listened or changed course.”
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hike in,” he said. The relatively high winds Wednesday had both men exhausted coming off the line. “With this fire, the wind is the biggest thing,” Minor, a firefighter since 2006, said. “Wind is always the most dif-
ficult thing to deal with when it comes to fight fires.” At the time the fire erupted Sunday, there were sustained winds over 40 miles per hour with gusts in the 60s. Just about the time it looked like the White Fire would burn its way up Gavilan Canyon, the wind shifted, turning the blaze in a northeasterly direction, straight at Ruidoso Downs. But both Minor and Bertek said working the burn zone already told them the story. Looking at a topographic map with the fire area on it, the pair note the long, stretched area of destruction, trademark of a fast-moving wind-driven fire. “There’s still lots of fuel out there,” Minor said. Bertek, however, said the quick response of local firefighters, volunteers and professionals, was what most likely kept the White Fire from causing even more destruction than just five houses and numerous outbuildings. “You’ve just got to give all of the local units credit for their work in the first 24 hours,” Bertek said. “When you’re out there, you can see all the training they do put to action. Without their work, this could have been a lot worse.”
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