Officials say firefighters gaining ground on wildfire on Army firing range in New Mexico

Officials: Firefighters gaining on Fort Bliss fire

FORT BLISS, Texas — Officials say firefighters are gaining ground on a wildfire that’s blackened more than 3,800 acres of an Army firing range along the New Mexico and Texas border.

A statement from Fort Bliss, Texas, on Thursday said more than 3,800 acres have been charred by flames within the Dona (DOHN’-yah) Ana Range since Monday. The statement says an air-and-ground attack has contained 30 percent of the wildfire.

The fire was ignited by a training exercise. The battle to contain the flames has been complicated by unexploded ordnance in the Fort Bliss firing range, which extends from El Paso into southern New Mexico.

The blaze is in New Mexico in the rugged Organ Mountains, about 12 miles east of Las Cruces, N.M.

No structures are threatened and no one has been injured.