OTERO COUNTY – The Otero County Sheriff’s Office said poor weather conditions caused containment on the Smith Canyon Fire to drop from 60% to 15% Sunday night.
In a post to the sheriff’s Facebook page, additional resources were requested Sunday afternoon in an effort to slow the fire’s movement from the air.
The fire started early Saturday night south of Higbee and was estimated to have burned 100 acres as of Sunday morning. An updated acreage estimation has not yet been provided. Higbee is about 20 minutes south of La Junta.
The Otero County Sheriff said the fire was 60% contained at 3 p.m. Sunday, but conditions changed later in the night, bringing containment to 15%.
State and local firefighting efforts from around the Arkansas Valley are working together to get control of the fire.
