Southwest fire center battles worst blazes in 28 years

At the Southwest Coordination Center, nerve center for federal, state and local response to forest fires in Arizona and New Mexico, managers are using a variety of software programs and information technology tools to help juggle resources to battle blazes during the worst fire season in nearly three decades. In terms of conditions that spread fires -- drought, heat and wind -- "this is as extreme as it gets," said Bob Leaverton, regional fire and aviation director for the Forest Service. Leaverton said he has never seen such a dangerous combination of dire conditions in his 28 years with the Forest Service. As a result, the Southwest has experienced a series of massive fires in 2011 -- the worst in almost 30 years -- including the 826-square-mile Wallow Fire, the largest Leaverton has experienced in his career. Now the Southwest Coordination Center, staffed by personnel from the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Arizona State Land Department, and the State of New Mexico Division of Forestry, is managing the response to six active fires in Arizona and eight active fires in New Mexico. The center also monitors five inactive fires in Arizona and another two in New Mexico...more