Gov. Martinez Declares State Of Emergency
New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez on Wednesday declared a state of emergency regarding the use of fireworks in the state through July 6.
Martinez urges all New Mexicans to refrain from buying, selling or using fireworks during the dry summer fire season. Martinez and officials are also encouraging the public to attend professional fireworks displays instead of using fireworks on their own.
Martinez has also instructed the Department of Public Safety to increase the number of officers on patrol, as well as having them coordinate with local law enforcement agencies to enforce all statewide and local fireworks restrictions.
?The conditions in New Mexico are simply too dangerous for anyone to buy, sell, or use fireworks this summer,? Martinez said in a news release. ?This order increases the number of state police officers who will be available to support local communities in enforcing the bans or restrictions put in place by both the state and local governments. This is a reminder to all New Mexicans that there can be serious consequences for violating fireworks restrictions.?
According to the executive order, the state has exercised its full statutory authority in banning the use of all fireworks on all “wildland areas,” including non-municipal, non-federal, and non-tribal lands covered wholly or in part by timber, brush, grass, grain or other vegetation. Municipal and county governments have also enacted bans on the sale and use of certain types of fireworks, restricted the use of all other fireworks to paved areas near a water source, as well as the closures of some areas, such as the Bosque in Albuquerque.
Several wildfires, including a serious fire threatening the Los Alamos National Laboratories in Los Alamos, N.M., and several in southern New Mexico, have cost the state more than $19 million in addition to the commitment of resources and firefighters in communities throughout the state, the order states.
The fire in Los Alamos burned more than 43,000 acres in one day and destroyed dozens of homes and other structures.
