Wildfire burning on forest land in Otero County fully contained

UPDATE, Feb. 7: U.S. Forest Service officials said that a wildfire burning on 17 acres of forest land in Otero County had now been fully contained.

Fire crews on Sunday were doing "mop-up operations" after having "secured the perimeter" of the Spring Fire, officials indicated.

A Forest Service statement indicated "smoke may still be visible from the nearby communities of Sacramento and Weed as sections inside the fire perimeter, sometimes referred to as interior pockets, continue to slowly burn; however, lines surrounding the fire continue to hold."

ORIGINAL REPORT, Feb. 6: SACRAMENTO, New Mexico — A fire that started Friday night in a structure in the southern New Mexico mountain village of Sacramento spread into an adjacent national forest before crews stopped its growth overnight, U.S. Forest Service officials said Saturday.

Numerous volunteer fire departments and two fire engines completed lines around the fire, limiting its size to 17 acres of private land and Lincoln National Forest, officials said.

Crews on Saturday were mopping up and monitoring the fire to ensure that fire lines continued to contain the fire, officials said.

Sacramento is in Otero County and 24 miles east of Alamogordo.