Firefighters battled a massive brush fire near Western Playland, prompting an evacuation of the Sunland Park amusement park as flames reportedly reached more than 30 feet into the air.
The fire started about 9:30 p.m. on Friday night, May 15, outside of Western Playland amusement park, located at 1249 Futurity Drive in Sunland Park, New Mexico, authorities said. The fire extended from Futurity to Sunland Park Drive.
Firefighters from multiple fire departments got the fire under control around 10:30 p.m. The West Valley Fire Department, Dona Ana County Fire Rescue, Sunland Park Fire Department and El Paso Fire Department responded to the scene.
The cause of the fire has not been released.
No injuries were reported. Western Playland was evacuated out of an abundance of caution, Sunland Park city officials said in a Facebook post.
The area around the amusement park looked like an apocalypse scene from a movie, with massive flames flaring more than 30 feet above a red-and-black sky, large amounts of smoke engulfing the area, as video posted on social media shows.
As the fire continued to blaze, video shows people still riding park rides before Western Playland was evacuated.
Aaron Martinez covers the criminal justice system for the El Paso Times. He may be reached at amartinez1@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Firefighters battle massive fire near Western Playland in Sunland Park
Reporting by Aaron Martinez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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