In a repeat of events of two years ago, LifeWay Glorieta Conference Center in New Mexico again served as a temporary home to firefighters and local residents displaced by a forest fire burning in the surrounding area.
A forest fire burned more than 700 acres in the Dalton Canyon area east of the conference center from May 6 until May 9, when fire officials pronounced the fire “fully contained.” Though no arrests have been made, officials say they believe the fire was deliberately set.
Glorieta General Manager Rick Tanner contacted the Red Cross and offered the conference center for use as a shelter for anyone who might have to be evacuated.
“The Red Cross accepted, then contacted the local television stations to let people know about our availability,” Tanner said. “The Red Cross then set up a base camp here at Glorieta and stayed from Monday until Thursday.”
Glorieta allowed the firemen and the evacuees to stay at the conference center at no charge, although, according to Tanner, “the Red Cross does reimburse us at the rate of $25 per room and $3 per meal.”
Glorieta housed about 80 firemen on Monday night, then about 20 Tuesday and Wednesday nights. “On Tuesday when firemen from around the country came to help, they set up their own base camp near the fire site for about 1,000 people, so they didn’t need our facilities for as many people.”
Eight families from the area came to Glorieta to wait out the fire. The 57 students and faculty from Brush Ranch School near the conference center also used Glorieta as a shelter. The 57 students and faculty from Brush Ranch School near the conference center also used Glorieta as a shelter.
(BP)
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