It's a danger lurking in your own backyard and could put your home at a risk for fire; both city and state officials are warning the public about the dry conditions.
Fire officials say whether it's along the mountain or in your own backyard, it does put the area at a higher risk for fire because of the lack of rain and the dry brush all across the borderland.
You don't hear about it often but it happens on a daily basis," said Lieutenant Julius Gutierrez with the El Paso Fire Department.Gutierrez said fire crews are putting out small brush fires on a daily basis.
Fire officials say it happened to one Northeast El Paso home Tuesday afternoon when a refrigerator left running outside caught dry leaves and brush on fire, which then quickly spread to the home. They say the risk is everywhere because of the dry terrain in and around El Paso.
Park rangers with Franklin State Park say they are asking visitors to the Franklin Mountains to be very careful with cigarettes and matches. They say the mountains are a home of sorts for desert plants and wildlife across 24,000 acres of land and one wildfire they say would take years for the land to recover.
"It is very sensitive right now, everything is so dry. We haven't had any rain. Just look around everything is just so dry," said park ranger Robert Pichardo.
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