\u201cJust having a place for daytime sleeping that is cool and dark is so important for fighters who work the night shift on the fire line,\u201d says Andy Gray. \u201cThe parking capacity for fire engines and other fire equipment was very essential to us.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Currently, Luna is serving as a distribution center for the San Miguel County Emergency Management Division holding supplies such as water, hygiene essentials, and pet food. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe are very happy that we are able to assist the U.S. Forest Service and our community partners,\u201d said Luna President Dr. Edward Martinez. \u201cA big part of our mission at Luna is for the college to be available to help our communities when they need our services. Before Luna operations went remotely, Luna employees and students were happy to share the facilities with the U.S. Forest Service.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n As of Wednesday, May 18, the wildfires had increased to 301,971 acres. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen a fire situation happens, it\u2019s an emergency situation,\u201d says Andy Lyon, also a public information officer for the Southwest Incident Management Team. \u201cOur job is to bring order to the chaos. Part of our job is to make sure workers have a place to eat, a place to sleep, and that they are paid when they go home. We also want to express our appreciation to those who live around the college and have to put up with our noise. We try to be good neighbors. We are trying to bring things somewhat back to normal. We appreciate the support of the community and the college helping us get through this.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Lyon said that although they are still fighting wildland fires, it is important that our communities be ready for future fires.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA simple explanation, given the conditions in New Mexico right now, we want everyone to be ready for a fire,\u201d says Lyon. \u201cIt might not be this monstrous fire; it could be a fire that starts with a bottle rocket on the Fourth of July.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Lyon said that the enemy right now is harsh winds, the fact that everything is dry, and the lack of a winter snowfall.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen it rains a sufficient amount that soaks the ground, that is when the fire will be put out completely,\u201d says Lyon.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Lyon encourages everyone to be aware of the ready, set, and go status.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cReady means be thinking about leaving your home,\u201d says Lyon. \u201cStart thinking about what you will take with you when you leave your home. Set means have everything packed together sitting in your car and go means it\u2019s time to leave.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Lyon said that there is fire personnel from about a dozen states including some as far away as Alaska and Pennsylvania and all of them are dedicated and committed to their work.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe work just as hard to save a mobile home as we do to save a one-million-dollar home,\u201d says Lyon. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0 ###<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Photo-1-2-400x267.jpg\")
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A DC-10 \u201cheavy\u201d air tanker drops fire retardant on a ridge just west of Luna, recently. The retardant was used to create a backup fire containment line to protect the west side of Las Vegas. Luna\u2019s main campus in Las Vegas has been the main Incident Command Post for the U.S. Forest Service since the start of wildfires. <\/b><\/span><\/span>(Courtesy photo, U.S, Forest Service)<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/Photo-2-400x300.jpg\")
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U.S. Forrest Personnel stands outside Luna\u2019s old humanities building recently waiting for directions. The U.S. Forest Service has utilized Luna\u2019s campus since April 10. <\/b><\/span><\/span>(Courtesy photo, U.S, Forest Service)<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Jesse Gallegos Public Relations Coordinator Luna Community College May 18, 2022 The Luna Community College campus in Las Vegas has been the main Incident Command Post for the U.S. Forest Service since April 10, right after wildfires started in northeastern New Mexico.\u00a0During this disaster, over 1,000 Forest Service personnel, firefighters,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":57509,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-schools","entry","rows-excerpt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78167"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78167\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78170,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78167\/revisions\/78170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/krtnradio.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}