by Bill Knowles
TRINIDAD — A fire broke out on Tuesday, April 12 near the Highway 160/350 bypass in Trinidad, between the BNSF railroad and the highway. The blaze caused authorities to evacuate the Village East mobile home park and the closure of the Kit Carson bypass from Main Street to Freedom Road around 4:40 p.m.
Evacuees from the mobile home park were sheltered at the Trinidad Community Center on Beshoar Road.
High winds at 45 mph to 50 mph sent the fire moving quickly along the river bottom, prompting the evacuation. The county jail is close to the river, and next to the Village East mobile home park.
Prisoners in the county jail remained in lock down as firefighters from the Trinidad Fire Department and Hoehne and Fisher’s Peak volunteer fire departments worked the fire.
“The firefighters from Trinidad, Hoehne and Fisher’s Peak did a great job putting this fire down,” said LAC Sheriff Derek Navarette during a phone call with the World Journal.
The sheriff’s department experienced heavy smoke and began preparing for the possibility of evacuation of prisoners at the county jail. The sheriff said at no time were any prisoners in danger.
“We reached out to DOC (Department of Corrections) for possible housing of the county’s prisoners. And we began to arrange for buses from the Trinidad school district and Hoehne school district to move them. The buses were placed on standby. There was no danger of fire,” said Sheriff Navarette.
The sheriff’s department continued to monitor the fire from the bridge at the river and Kit Carson Drive.
Pre-evacuation orders for the mobile home park were issued at 4:43 p.m.
By about 5:56 p.m. the fire had burned an estimated five acres along the Purgatoire River bottom had been burned and firefighters had the fire 20% contained.
At 6:10 p.m. the pre-evacuation status for the Village East mobile home park was upgraded to a mandatory evacuation. The fire was moving east and had grown to 10 acres. A fire line was cut east of the fire as fire crews attempted to contain it in the river bottom.
Later in the evening the evacuation had been lifted and residents could return to their homes. The smell of smoke was strong, but no property had been damaged, even though at one point the fire could be seen burning behind the big screen of the old drive-in.
Authorities issued a final update for Tuesday 8:20 p.m. At that time the fire was 30% contained and mutual aid resources were released from the scene starting at 9 p.m. They were to return at 7 a.m. Wednesday morning to finish constructing fire lines and mop up the fire.
The Trinidad Fire Department continued to monitor the area throughout the night. While the evacuation has been lifted, residents in the area were urged to remain aware if conditions change.
A statement issued by the authorities for April 13, says that fire resources are back out on the River Bottom Fire. There will be smoke in the area as fire crews continue to mop up operations.
