Trout Rescued From Ash-Tainted Creek; Fires Fought in Six States
Rain and higher humidity helped firefighters whip blazes in six Western states, and a New Mexico fire that polluted a creek with ash forced biologists to rescue hundreds of endangered fish in long-handled nets. Officials said 566 Gila trout were fished out of Diamond Creek in southwestern New Mexico, put in containers on mules and horses, loaded onto trucks and brought to the Mescalero Fish Hatchery. The trout will stay there until the creek rises and becomes ash-free. ``They were in good shape,'' said Toby Martinez, a U.S. Forest Service range and wildlife staff officer for the Gila National Forest. Officials hoped at least 90 percent would survive. Much of the creek was contaminated by ash from the lightning-caused Divide fire, which started June 30 and burned about 10,000 acres 150 miles southwest of Albuquerque, said Forest Service spokeswoman Andrea Garcia. The fire was contained Monday and should be controlled within four days, Ms. Garcia said. Martinez said rescuers used electric shockers to stun the fish, then netted them. When a fish is stunned, it comes to the surface. Gila trout once were widespread throughout mountain streams in the Gila River Basin of southwestern New Mexico, but the habitat was ruined because of wood cutting, overgrazing and irrigation. The trout was placed on the federal endangered species list in 1967. Lightning sparked three small fires Thursday and today, but firefighters were extinguishing them today, said Willie Zapata, U.S. Forest Service dispatcher in Gila. In California, 1,500 firefighters aided by light wind and higher humidity Thursday had circled 70 percent of an arson fire that has charred more than 3,000 acres of scenic California coastline near Big Sur. Firefighters said they were unable to make progress overnight. They hoped to have the 6-day-old fire contained by late today, but authorities were concerned that higher temperatures could hamper their efforts. A brush fire accidentally started by Marine Corps tracer fire continued burning out of control today after charring at least 3,000 acres at Camp Pendleton, a base spokesman said. Firefighters on Thursday said they had contained the 2,000-acre Livermore Fire west of Fort Collins, Colo., in Roosevelt National Forest, the last of three major fires in Colorado to be encircled by firefighters. Seven 20-person crews fighting the fire were to be reduced to three crews, officials said. Earlier, firefighters contained the Black Tiger fire which covered 2,000 acres in Boulder Canyon and destroyed dozens of homes, and halted a 2,600-acre fire in Mesa Verde National Monument in southwestern Colorado. Arizona firefighters mopped up hot spots in several small fires, and only one blaze in the state was not fully contained. The stubborn Horton Fire, burning beneath the Mogollon Rim, had grown to 300 acres, but officials expected to have it contained by late Saturday. In northwest Nebraska, members of a volunteer fire department and a few National Guardsmen stood by the smoldering remains of a blaze that charred 48,000 acres of the Pine Ridge. The fire, which raged for four days and destroyed 14 unoccupied structures, was contained Wednesday and officials predicted it would be controlled soon. Forest officials in Nebraska shifted their attention Thursday from firefighting to seeding grass and planting trees. The blaze blackened acres of ponderosa pine trees, many of them 60 to 80 years old, said U.S. Forest Service Fire Staff Officer Jim Carson. Carson hoped for rain. ``My experience is that we'd see green grass again if we get enough moisture, say a half-inch of rain,'' he said. Rains helped firefighters in western Wyoming forests. The storms dampened a fire in Bridger-Teton National Forest that had burned nearly 3,500 acres. ``It's been real quiet,'' said Dick Heninger, a ranger in the forest's Pinedale office. ``It looks better all the time, the way these clouds are coming in.'' Heninger said four crews will probably be released from the fire today, leaving two to continue mop-up work. But one official with the Wyoming Interagency Fire Coordination Center warned the break in the fire season will probably be short-lived. ``As soon as it gets hot and dry again, we will be right back in it,'' said center spokesman Greg Warner. ``For now, anyway, we are getting some relief.''
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