Pallets Fire Sends Smoke High Above Raton Monday Afternoon
May 12, 2025
By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
Monday morning about 11:40 am fire fighters were called to a huge fire on the Western Wood Products facility south of Raton where a huge pile of pallets had caught fire.
According to Raton Fire Chief Anthony Burk the blaze started after hot high pressure hydraulic fluid spewed from a front end loader and ignited wood chips that quickly spread to wooden pallets that were just north of the loader. It didn’t take long before the 20+ foot high stacks of pallets were putting up black smoke high in the sky over Raton.
50 or so Fire Fighters from Raton, Colfax Rapid Response, Cimarron, French Tract, Maxwell, Philmont and Vermejo battled the blaze and kept it from spreading to near by buildings. Grass trucks also worked the perimeter to keep the fire from spreading into the grass around the facility and onto the grassy area south of the rodeo arena.
Fortunately for fire fighters winds were only 5 to 15 mph out of the southwest early on, had the winds been higher that situation could have easily gotten out of control with the blaze heading toward town and the housing area north of highway 555 and west of the railroad tracks. By mid afternoon the wind had died down considerably and was blowing in from the west.
By late afternoon fire fighters could take a breath and grab a bite to eat before continuing mop up operations. Chief Burk figured that fire fighters would have to babysit the fire for at least the overnight hours to keep any flare ups from getting away from them. He noted it could be a couple of days before fire fighters could call this blaze out as wood chips continued to smolder late Monday afternoon. A dozer was brought in to spread out the wood chips to make it easier to extinguish any flames that were left over.
A huge pile of pallets burns on the south end of the Western Wood Products facility Monday afternoon May 12, 2025.Fire Fighters battle a pallet fire on the south end of the Western Wood Products facility Monday afternoon May 12, 2025.Front end loaders from the City of Raton arrived on scene to help build a fire break around the south end of the facility, one of them was later moved to the pallet pile to remove unburned pallets.A front end loader from the City of Raton arrived to help build a fire break on the east side of the burned area as fire fighters battle a pallet fire on the south end of the Western Wood Products facility Monday afternoon May 12, 2025.A power pole suffered dearly as the fire burned it and melted the wire going to it on the east side of the Western Wood Products facility Monday afternoon May 12, 2025.Smoke billowed high into the sky Monday afternoon, May 12, 2025, as fire fighters battled a pallet fire on the south end of the Western Wood Products facility.Flames burned hot as Fire Fighters battled a pallet fire Monday afternoon May 12, 2025 on the south end of the Western Wood Products facility.Lots of fuel to burn as a huge pile of pallets caught fire Monday afternoon May 12, 2025 on the south end of the Western Wood Products facility.A smoke devil develops on the south side of the fire and spins off into the grassy area south of the fire Monday afternoon May 12, 2025 during the fire on the Western Wood Products facility.Not much left but a piece of rubber to burn off this fork lift after the pallet fire at Western Wood Products Monday afternoon in South Raton.Wooden Pallets that were stacked about 20+ feet high are reduced to mere ashes and continue to smolder after fire fighters battle the blaze for a couple of hours Monday afternoon at the Western Wood facility south of Raton.Untouched by the fire these wood chips will be watched for possible fire as the loader that was the cause of the fire lies in ruins on the south end of the Western Wood Products facility Monday afternoon, May 12, 2025.Smoke still filters through the air as the loader that caused the fire sits in ruins at the south end of the Western Wood Products facility south of Raton Monday afternoon May 12, 2025.Flames can still be seen in the wood chip piles on the south end of the Western Wood Products facility south of Raton Monday afternoon May 12, 2025.A dozer was brought in to help with the clean up final extinguishment of the pallet fire Monday afternoon May 12, 2025 at the Western Wood Products facility south of Raton.
