The Silver Fire in the Gila National Forest of New Mexico grew to 17,000 acres on Wednesday. As it burned toward the southwest it approached the small community of just over a dozen in Kingston, N.M.
Fire fighting crews remained present to protect structures in the historic silver mining town of the 1880s.
“The fire has advanced on Kingston and property is threatened,” stated the official information Facebook page for the Silver Fire in N.M. “We have lots of firefighters spending the day and night there, running sprinklers and implementing other structure protection efforts.... no structures have been damaged,” it stated at 10 p.m. EDT (8 MDT), Wednesday.
An evacuation order has been in place since June 10 and an evacuation center has been established at the community center in nearby Hillsboro.
“The center also is taking care of 350 firefighters,” reported KRGQ news.
N.M. Governor Susana Martinez attended a community meeting in Hillsboro held by the Forest Service.
On June 5, Martinez requested additional firefighting assistance because of an elevated fire danger in N.M. The Tres Lagunas and Thompson Ridge Fires were burning at the time.
She met with the first of three out-of-state strike teams of firefighters and engines that came to N.M to help with wildfire suppression efforts.
“New Mexico should keep our firefighters in their prayers. Our first goal is always to return them safely to their families,” she stated in the press release.
