Latest news with #Ducker
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
New Mexico faces increased fire danger in June, after moist end to May
Thunderheads build over the Organ Mountains in the afternoon of Tuesday August, 1, 2023. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM) New Mexico's relatively cool and moist weather so far this spring will dry and warm up in coming weeks, putting fire managers and forecasters on high alert for wildfires before the start of the seasonal monsoon rains this summer. This year's low snowpack has already put much of the state in drought conditions, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently declared a state of emergency and additional actions to prevent fires over the coming weeks. Recent rains around the state offer some relief, as May and June typically emerge as some of the driest months, said George Ducker, a wildfire prevention and spokesperson at the New Mexico Forestry Division. But the projected warm temperatures through the next several weeks could mean the recent spouting of new plants could aggravate the problem, he said. 'We could see a substantial dry up of these flashy fuels, the grasses and even shrubs,' Ducker said. 'Then, if you get a start, get a little bit of wind — there would be more fuel to burn.' The recent rains did not herald the start of the monsoon, the seasonal tropical patterns that provide Arizona and New Mexico with critical moisture, said Andrea Bair, a forecaster with the National Weather Service Western Region based in Salt Lake City, at a National Integrated Drought Information System presentation Tuesday. Rather, she said monsoons are expected to start in mid-June and could be stronger than past years, but hot temperatures will continue to dry out the soils and stress plants across much of the Southwestern U.S. 'The drought looks to continue throughout the season and the monthly outlook forecasts,' she said. 'So not a lot of relief is expected.' The rains lessened the acute risks of fire in the Southwest, said Jim Wallmann, a senior forecaster for the National Interagency Coordination Center Predictive Services. But other parts of the county are seeing wildfires 'extremely early' in the fire season, he said, noting the 1,000-acre Banana Lake fire in Montana. 'We're having to spread our resources over a much greater footprint of the country,' Wallmann said. 'That could affect how big a fire gets in California, if we're stretched and can't send everything to California while it's burning; we'll be on fires burning everywhere else.' Ducker said the concerns about availability for resources to fight wildfires is 'a bridge we'll cross when we come to it,' and said the state is working to be prepared. 'We have the resources to be able to jump on fires as they start,' Ducker said. Our federal partners seem to be in the same place where they're ready to respond, so right now we're just waiting for June to see what it shows us.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Telegraph
05-05-2025
- General
- Telegraph
104-year-old VE Day hero invited to Buckingham Palace tea
He kept the horrors of the Second World War to himself for eight decades. Now, ahead of joining the King and Queen for tea at Buckingham Palace to mark the anniversary of VE Day this week, the former RAF flight mechanic has shared his story for the first time. The former RAF flight mechanic, who served as a Leading Aircraftman for six years until 1946, said he was 'honoured' to accept the invitation. Mr Ducker, who was called up to the RAF aged just 19, has never previously met a member of the Royal family and will be the oldest of 30 veterans attending the 80th anniversary celebrations. The day's events, organised by the Royal British Legion, of which the King is patron, will begin with a military procession and fly-past with the Royal family and the Prime Minister present. As Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to the Armed Forces, calling their sacrifice 'a debt that can never fully be repaid', Mr Ducker shared his memories with The Telegraph. During the war, he trained at Cranwell in Lincolnshire and the No 1 Radio School in Egypt, and was posted to Reykjavík, Heliopolis, Malta, and Italy, where he worked on the Hawker Hurricane aircraft that saw action in the Bettle of Monte Cassino. Mr Ducker ran control centres wherever he went – including one rigged up in a stripped-out caravan at the end of a runway in Oakington, Cambridgeshire. 'I saw some terrible things in Oakington,' he said. 'With boys going out in the bombers and coming back all shot up. It was horrible. I shall never forget that.' 'They were all very talented people and their lives got cut short, it's such a shame,' he added. In 1943, he sailed for the Middle East aboard the Orbita and vividly recalls how his convoy came under repeated enemy air attack in the Mediterranean. He said: 'We'd been about 20 hours or so sailing and the sirens went, and I looked out and I could see all these aircraft coming towards us. The orders were to get down to the hold, but I was a bit curious to see what was going on. I hung back a bit, and I saw the first lot come and drop, but then I went down. 'In this hold, they'd fastened all the bulkheads and the officers were there with their guns drawn. 'Nobody panics at all, but you should've seen these men's faces. It was like we were in a tin can, the bombs were dropping, you could hear them.' In Yugoslavia, impoverished villagers once invited him to a girl's birthday meal in their family home. 'They had no beds, they just slept on the floor…They brought flagons of great wine out. They kept filling our glasses up!' 'I knew I was going home, I'd survived' He was on guard at night in Campo Marina, Italy, when news of the German surrender came through. He remembers having been given a gun for his guard duties and firing it up into the sky, celebrating. 'I'd never fired a gun before that! I was over the moon. I knew I was going home, I'd survived,' he said. He later helped escort German POWs by train across Europe. Taking a train through France on his way home, then crossing the Channel to Newhaven. 'I shall never forget the ferry, the Royal Daffodil that went into Newhaven. And there I sent a telegram to my mum and dad saying 'I'm now back in the UK, I'll see you soon'. 'I hadn't seen them for years. I went in as a boy at 19, and I came back at 26 almost to the day. I came home in January 1946 and got married in March. I wrote to her the whole time I was away, we'd met when we were five.' Guests of honour Veterans from the Royal Navy, British Army, RAF, Wrens, Special Operations Executives, D-Day and Desert Rats, as well as 20 Second World War -era civilians, including evacuees, have all been invited as guests of honour to the tea party at the palace. Ten female veterans will be in attendance, including former codebreakers, drivers and mechanics. Among them are Joyce Wilding, 100, of 'Churchill's Secret Army', and Ruth Bourne, 98, a Wren at Bletchley Park. Both were in the crowds outside Buckingham Palace in 1945, celebrating VE Day.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
104-year-old VE Day hero invited to Buckingham Palace tea
He kept the horrors of the Second World War to himself for eight decades. Now, 104-year-old veteran Henry Ducker has shared his tale for the first time ahead of having tea with the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace for VE Day. The former RAF flight mechanic, who served as a Leading Aircraftman for six years until 1946, said he was 'honoured' to accept the invitation. Mr Ducker, who was called up to the RAF aged just 19, has never previously met a member of the Royal family and will be the oldest of 30 veterans attending the 80th anniversary celebrations. The day's events, organised by the Royal British Legion, of which the King is patron, will begin with a military procession and fly-past with the Royal family and the Prime Minister. As Sir Keir Starmer paid tribute to the Armed Forces, calling their sacrifice 'a debt that can never fully be repaid', Mr Ducker shared his memories with The Telegraph. During the war, he trained at Cranwell in Lincolnshire and the No 1 Radio School in Egypt, and was posted to Reykjavík, Heliopolis, Malta, and Italy, where he worked on the Hawker Hurricane aircraft that saw action in Monte Cassino. He ran control centres wherever he went – including one rigged up in a stripped-out caravan at the end of a runway in Oakington, Cambridgeshire. 'I saw some terrible things in Oakington,' he said. 'With boys going out in the bombers and coming back all shot up. It was horrible. I shall never forget that.' 'They were all very talented people and their lives got cut short, it's such a shame,' he added. In 1943, he sailed for the Middle East aboard the Orbita and vividly recalls how his convoy came under repeated enemy air attack in the Mediterranean. He said: 'We'd been about 20 hours or so sailing and the sirens went, and I looked out and I could see all these aircraft coming towards us. The orders were to get down to the hold, but I was a bit curious to see what was going on. I hung back a bit, and I saw the first lot come and drop, but then I went down. 'In this hold, they'd fastened all the bulkheads and the officers were there with their guns drawn. 'Nobody panics at all, but you should've seen these men's faces. It was like we were in a tin can, the bombs were dropping, you could hear them.' In Yugoslavia, impoverished villagers once invited him to a girl's birthday meal in their family home. 'They had no beds, they just slept on the floor…They brought flagons of great wine out. They kept filling our glasses up!' He was on guard at night in Campo Marina, Italy, when news of the German surrender came through. He remembers having been given a gun for his guard duties and firing it up into the sky, celebrating. 'I'd never fired a gun before that! I was over the moon. I knew I was going home, I'd survived,' he said. He later helped escort German POWs by train across Europe. Taking a train through France on his way home, then crossing the Channel to Newhaven. 'I shall never forget the ferry, the Royal Daffodil that went into Newhaven. And there I sent a telegram to my mum and dad saying 'I'm now back in the UK, I'll see you soon'. 'I hadn't seen them for years. I went in as a boy at 19, and I came back at 26 almost to the day. I came home in January 1946 and got married in March. I wrote to her the whole time I was away, we'd met when we were 5.' Veterans from the Royal Navy, British Army, RAF, Wrens, Special Operations Executives, D-Day and Desert Rats, as well as 20 Second World War-era civilians, including evacuees, have all been invited as guests of honour to the tea party at the palace. Ten female veterans will be in attendance, including former codebreakers, drivers and mechanics. Among them are Joyce Wilding, 100, of 'Churchill's Secret Army', and Ruth Bourne, 98, a Wren at Bletchley Park. Both were in the crowds outside Buckingham Palace in 1945, celebrating VE Day. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Two small NM fires erupt Sunday, including one in Grants neighborhood that burned 14 structures
Members of the Mimbres wildland firefighting team dig fire line during a wildfire in 2024. (Photo Courtesy NM Forestry) Two small wildfires prompted evacuations and burned a few structures in the Grants and Socorro areas Sunday, though a state Forestry spokesperson said Monday that crews were making progress. Witnesses spotted the Otero Fire in the bosque east of Socorro and the Alamo Fire in a neighborhood in Grants on Sunday evening. The Grants Fire is fully contained at between 3 and 5 acres, said Forestry spokesperson George Ducker. Despite progress overnight in Socorro, where crews built a fire line across the northern edge of the 360-acre fire, the Otero Fire is 0% contained, Ducker said. The causes of both fires remains under investigation, Ducker said, though they occurred amid high winds and ongoing drought across the state. The National Interagency Fire Center earlier this month warned that most of the state would experience above-normal wildfire risk, and that the risk would spread to the western two-thirds of the state as May approaches. A new forecast is expected in the next few days. High winds around 7 p.m. pushed the Alamo Fire on the east side Grants into structures, burning eight structures and six outbuildings and prompting evacuations. Residents are being allowed to return this morning, Ducker said, and crews will focus on watching for hotspots and dealing with the burned structures, now that the fire is fully contained. In the Socorro-area fire, crews detected active wildfire burning on the south end of the perimeter. They plan today to hold and increase containment lines. No structures are threatened in that fire, and no evacuation orders are in effect.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Wildfire near Bosque Farms 10% contained
Crews work on the Rio Grande Fire on Thursday afternoon. (Photo courtesy Candice Kutrosky, NM Forestry Division) A wildfire in Valencia County destroyed three structures yesterday evening, according to a New Mexico state Forestry spokesperson. Efforts to contain the wildfire remain ongoing. The Rio Grande Fire was detected around 4 p.m. on Thursday west of Bosque Farms. High winds and dry conditions pushed the fire east across the Rio Grande into the village Bosque Farms, state Forestry spokesperson George Ducker said. The fire, which started on Bureau of Indian Affairs jurisdiction is currently 10% contained, Ducker said. The fire spans roughly 60 acres, or less than a tenth of a square mile, and the structures burned may have been homes, Ducker said, , but a damage assessment is being conducted today. Fuels for the fire include grass, brush and other plants along the bosque. High winds and prolonged drought made fire risk high in the area and across the state Thursday. The fire also caused evacuations but those have since been lifted, Ducker said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, Ducker said, though some online wildfire databases say it was 'human caused.' Crews worked through the night to contain the fire and have since established divisions on the north and south sides of it to try to contain it further. Crews will look to increase containment and extinguish hotspots within the bosque today, Ducker said. Winds in the area are expected to decrease, and scattered rain showers are expected tonight. Still, the eastern two-thirds of the state, including Bosque Farms, are under a Red Flag Warning, according to the National Weather Service.
