Bosque patrol spotted blossoming blaze

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A plume of smoke rising from a backyard near the Rio Grande bosque caused panic around Central Avenue and 40th Street Wednesday morning.

The Albuquerque Fire Department reports the fire was accidentally started by a beekeeper using smoke to calm his bees in the backyard of a home off 40th Street.

The fire did not spread to any houses but did burn grass, a wood pile and some trash in the yard in a neighborhood just west of the Rio Grande.

Less than 0.10 of an acre burned.

AFD says a police patrol in the bosque spotted the smoke and called in fire crews.

"That's part of the reasons we ramp up the patrols," said Jeremiah Hansen, AFD's fire management officer.

The fast firefighter response and lack of significant wind kept the fire from spreading.

"They came quickly and did what they do well," said Ruby Bishop, who owns the property where the fire burned. "[They] saved all of us here." 

Although Hansen says thinning the bosque has reduced the fire danger, there's still plenty of hazardous fuels ready to ignite that fire crews need to keep an eye on.

Because of the size of the bosque, AFD is counting on help from the public to keep small fires small.

"The public is our eyes and ears in there," Hansen said. "It would take me throwing every single person at the fire department, every single person at APD into here to have eyes on the whole thing."

Albuquerque and Bernalillo County leaders are keeping paved and well-marked dirt trails open in the bosque but are placing the rest of the riverside area off-limits beginning at 8 a.m. Friday.

(A trail map can be found here.)

Sandoval, Valencia and Socorro counties will close the bosque completely also starting Friday morning.

Part of the fire prevention strategy in the Bernalillo County section of the bosque is to keep people on the trails so more eyes can spot smoke.

To help keep safe during fire season, AFD is recommending homeowners, especially those in risky fire areas, use guides located at firewise.org and the New Mexico State Forestry Division .