ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --
A bosque fire burned just behind the Rio Grande Zoo sending zoo employees scrambling to protect themselves and the animals.
Sky 7 captured thick smoke billowing out of the bosque directly behind the zoo. The fire broke out at about 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Harrison Weil and another zoo employee said they immediately noticed the smoke and jumped into one of the zoo's water trucks.
"Me and my friend Andy right here just took on off, filled up with water as much as we could, came out here and started spraying," Weil said.
Officials said without the zoo employees immediately spraying the fire, it could have crossed the street.
"Oh it was blazing man. It was definitely up there, a lot of heat coming out, a lot of smoke," Weil said.
While firefighters arrived on the scene, zoo employees started to hose down the back part of the property and take care of the animals.
"What we'll do is we'll take them indoors, most of structures are concrete you know hopefully we can control the fire until we can get to that point," said Ray Johnson.
The fire shut the bosque bike trail down along with a portion of Tingley Drive. But officials said it could have been worse if the zoo employees had not sprung into action.
"Just something we had to do man," Weil said.
Copyright 2010 by KOAT.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
