ALBUQUERQUE (AP) -- A fire sending smoke into the air in the wooded area along the Rio Grande north of Albuquerque was not growing Friday, but firefighters were not calling in contained.
The bosque fire near Bernalillo was burning within fire lines.
''The fire is burning in a way that it's giving us lots of time to strengthen lines. There's flame and there's smoke, but it's not moving fast,'' said Dan Ware, a spokesman for the state Forestry Division. ''The natural fuel breaks and the roads are giving us time to make sure we build the line we need.''
Ware said the River's Edge Fire was 50 percent contained after burning its way through at least 40 acres.
The blaze didn't threaten any homes, but electricity was cut off for a time to more than 700 customers as lightning brought down a power pole in the area and strong winds pushed the flames.
The fire, believed started by lightning, was one of a pair of blazes that broke out late Thursday afternoon and sent curtains of smoke spiraling at opposite ends of Albuquerque.
Firefighters at Kirtland Air Force Base on the southern end of Albuquerque worked quick to build lines around a grass fire that started near the foot of the Manzano Mountains. Officials suspect lightning was the cause.
''The wind made it really tough to fight and we worked it pretty hard to make good things happen,'' said Brent Wilson, the incident commander.
Wilson said the fire was fully contained by nightfall. He estimated 300 to 500 acres burned.
Kirtland's golf course and some horse stables were evacuated and Sandia National Laboratories closed some nearby buildings as a precaution. However, Wilson said, the fire was never in a position to threaten any of the facilities at the lab or the base.
