SANTA FE, N.M. — State officials say a wildland firefighter was critically injured while fighting a wildfire on private land in southwestern New Mexico.
A state Forestry Division statement said the firefighter works for the U.S. Forest Service and was injured Monday while fighting a fire in the Animas Mountains in Hidalgo County. The firefighter’s identity wasn’t released.
Forestry Division spokeswoman Wendy Mason said the firefighter is a member of an elite hotshots crew but that information on how the firefighter was injured wasn’t immediately available. The division's statement said the firefighter was in critical condition Tuesday at a hospital in El Paso, Texas.