ALBUQUERQUE (AP) -- Firefighters battled a blaze Thursday afternoon that burned two homes along the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque before jumping the river and forcing evacuations of surrounding neighborhoods.
Firefighters were called to a house fire around 3:35 p.m. Winds gusting up to 35 mph pushed the flames into a nearby structure and then to the trees across the river.
Bernalillo County Fire Chief Bett Clark said conditions for a wildfire are at their worst right now _ high winds, dry conditions and favorable fuels.
``If we're going to have a fire, then it's going to run,'' she said.
Clark said several engines were in place to help protect structures and build lines around the blaze in an effort to make the flames go where firefighters want them. A water-dropping helicopter worked the fire overhead.
Edgar Gallaro, 18, stood at a roadblock Thursday evening frantically trying to reach his uncle Raul Subia to coordinate evacuation of Subia's horses.
``I'm frustrated, man,'' Gallaro said after several unsuccessful cell phone calls.
The county received help from the city of Albuquerque, Valencia County and state Forestry Division.
Gov. Bill Richardson activated the state Emergency Operations Center in Santa Fe to assist, he said en route to the fire scene. Engines from around the state have been repositioned and two helicopters were activated to help in Albuquerque.
``We're putting every single resource on it,'' Richardson said.
A huge plume of smoke rose into the sky as authorities closed area roads and urged people to stay away.
The blaze burned two structures and firefighters were trying to protect three others, said Michele Arviso Devlin, a spokeswoman with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department.
Sheriff deputies were going door-to-door warning people about the fire. Arviso Devlin said 16 homes were evacuated while several more were targeted for voluntary evacuations.
People loaded their cars and trucks with belongings while others walked horses down neighborhood streets to get away from the flames.
The fire comes nearly a year after a pair of wildfires scorched more than 330 acres of the bosque within Albuquerque's city limits last summer. Those blazes forced the evacuations of several hundred homes.
The city enacted restrictions this week that prohibited fireworks, campfires, open burning and smoking in the wooded area along the river.
``We have extreme fire conditions out there and this was exactly what we were worried about,'' Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez said.
