Brush fire threatens homes in San Jon

About 7 p.m. Monday, firefighters had contained a brush fire near San Jon on Interstate 40 that threatened at least one home.

The fire started about mid-afternoon some two miles west of San Jon, in the emergency lane of I-40 and then burned grassland northeast and northwest as the wind took it in two different directions.

A Tucumcari firetruck was stationed at the house owned by Felcia Flint on Highway 469. Flint and her family had turned on their lawn sprinklers if the fire should turn and come closer to their home.

"They (firefighters) called us and told us to get our (family) pictures," said Flint of San Jon.

"The wind has gone into four different directions," Flint said.

The fire was contained behind a ridge south of her home and lawn.

As the fire first made its way from I-40, it headed northwesterly toward Sylvia Norred's home on Highway 469 north of San Jon.

Norred who was at a neighbor's watching the smoke said the fire marshal told her leave her home.

"He told me to get away from the smoke," Norred said.

A firetruck was also stationed at her home as a precaution.

More than a mile from San Jon, in front of Robert Caldera's home, firefighters set up a re-watering station, where brush trucks refilled their tanks and went back into the fields to water down the fire.

Caldera was helping firefighters haul and connect hoses from a large semi tanker filled with water to the brush trucks.

"We can't be on the (brush) trucks, but we can help with the hoses," Caldera said.

Firefighters, including units from Logan, San Jon and Tucumcari, fought the blaze. Another rewatering station was set up near the large blue water tower on 469.

There were no reported injuries of residents or firefighters, said Quay County Fire Marshal Don Adams.

"No structures were destroyed thanks to the work of the volunteer firefighters. There was some livestock lost," Adams said.

Firefighters would be monitoring the wind and hot spots through the night, Adams said.

Adams said he would have figures on the number of acres burned on Tuesday.

New Mexico Police Sgt. Bill North said police received a call at 3:23 p.m. notifying them that a motorist's car that was on fire.

A truck driver noticed that flames were coming from the rear of the car, and signaled the driver to pull over, North said.

The family in the car was traveling to California and lost their belongings in the car fire, North said. And a state police officer was assisting the family to get lodging, North said.