Ranchers urged to prepare plans for wildfires

By JIM OWEN

Daily Press Staff

Wildfi res can be extremely costly for ranchers, even if the flames do not reach buildings.

Because of the threat to grazing land, Grant County fire- management officer Gary Benavidez is urging ranchers to develop plans for helping firefighters battle a blaze.

He told the Daily Press that, with all the talk about creating defensible space to protect houses, “ a factor that hasn’t been addressed is that ranchers have a lot of property out there that includes their grazing land.’

At a March conference in Ruidoso, Benavidez expressed his concerns tothe national coordinator of the Ready, Set, Go Wildfire Action Plan program.

The initiative provides tips for protecting buildings from fi re, making a list of things to pack quickly, creating an evacuation plan, knowing when to leave and where to go, and how to survive a fire.

For details, visit www. readyforwildfire.org. Those without computer access may call Benavidez at 574-0052.

The program coordinator asked Benavidez to do a presentation on safeguarding ranch property at a national conference in Reno, Nev., in late March.

His workshop, “Building Partnerships to ProtectSensitive Lands,’ focused on how fire departments and ranchers can work together on preparedness and response plans.

“ It was the first time this had been a topic item at this type of national conference,’ Benavidez noted.

As part of his preparation for the conference, he obtained a copy of a firemanagement plan written for a 322,000- acre property in New Mexico’s Bootheel formerly known as the Gray Ranch.

Benavidez said firefighters need to know the location of roads, fences, gates and water sources on ranches.

This year’s Whippy Fire in the White Signal area, about 15 miles south of Silver City,“ got me thinking about these issues,’ he said.

A rancher expects he will have to buy about $10,000 in cattle feed this year to make up for the grasses he lost in the blaze, according to Benavidez.

“ We need to work with the ranchers,’ he explained. “They have some needs we need to be sensitive to.’

Benavidez said a plan developed by ranchers and firefighters “ can dictate how we are going to suppress the fi re — if we have to use aggressive, direct attack to protect grazing land; or employ an indirect attack (involving back burning).’

Some damage to ranch properties can be avoided if personnel do not need tocut fences, and if firefighting vehicles can use roads rather than be driven across pastures.

The Ready, Set, Go program was a success during recent huge fires in Texas, according to the chief of that state’s Forest Service, who spoke at the Reno conference.

“ They attributed some of their success with evacuations to the program. They had just two fatalities in one of the worse fire scenarios we’ve seen in decades in the United States. Considering the amount of fire and the number of evacuations, that says a lot about how well organized

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they were,’ Benavidez said.

Long before the fi res began, fi re- management teams worked with Texas residents so they would be prepared to “implement Ready, Set, Go in the heat of the battle,’ according to Benavidez.

He is striving to do the same thing in Grant County, having recently met with 33 residents of the Wind Canyon subdivision just west of Silver City. More meetings in rural areas of the county are planned.

“ Right now is when people need to be preparing,’ Benavidez said. “ Grant County is no longer in the ‘it can happen here’ category. It did happen here, and it won’t be the last time.’

He was referring to the Quail Ridge Fire in March 2011, which destroyed 60 buildings ( including 13 homes) on the south edge of Silver City.

Conditions are not quite as extreme this year, as there has been a bit more precipitation and higher humidity.

However, the area is in the middle of the annual wildfire season. Flames can spread quickly in dry grasses, especially when the wind is blowing.

No government entity has yet banned outside burning in the county, but authorities urge extreme caution.

Jim Owen may be reached at jowen@ silvercitydaily press.net.