© Adolphe Pierre-Louis/JournalA tanker drops fire retardant on a forest fire near the Fourth of July Campground in the Manzano Mountains on Tuesday.
A Forest Service spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday evening that residents on Camino del Norte and La Parra Road in the Chilili area have been ordered to evacuate.
Donna Nemeth, a spokeswoman for the Cibola National Forest, said the fire is burning in an area previously used for logging. That means there is lots of dry fuel on the ground, and the fire is spreading quicker than normal.
Arlene Perea, of the Mountainair Ranger District, said officials aren't sure how the fire started.
Perea said although hot shot crews are on the ground, and firefighters fighting the it from the air, it remains uncontained.
"We are using air-support right now in the way of heavy helicopters that will be dipping and dumping water, as well as large air tankers that will be dumping fire retardant on the fire," she said.
The Torrance County Sheriff's Office ordered residents to evacuate homes on Camino del Norte and La Parra Road in the Tajique area. Linda Kayser, with the Emergency Command Center said the order affected a couple dozen people, and that evacuees were welcome to stay at the Tajique Community Center or the Torrance County Fairgrounds.
The Inlow Youth Camp was also evacuated as a precaution.
"We didn't want to be in too big of a hurry to rustle up a bunch of kids," she said on a local radio station.
Perea said that residents who live northeast of the fire were also put on notice.
"You don't have to evacuate right now," she said. "But certainly be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice."
Craig Cox and Ryan Steffens work on a nearby ranch, and Tuesday afternoon found them standing atop a pickup truck parked along 337 to get a better look at the blaze.
Cox said they were hoping to figure out where the fire was and which direction it was moving.
"We wanted a better look and wanted to know the proximity," Cox said, adding that the fire was still a good distance from the ranch.
They'd driven around their fire earlier in the day and said that there was no easy way to access it.
But flames were visible from the place they parked on 337 between Tajique and Chilili.
Planes dropped fire retardant and water on the growing blaze periodically Tuesday afternoon.
Albuquerque Fire Department spokeswoman Melissa Romero warned that the smoke plume is visible from Albuquerque. She asked people who see smoke to not call 911 and tie up dispatchers.
— This is a developing story. Additional information will be added as it becomes available.
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