VIDEO: It's been 20 years since Smokey Bear struck a 670-foot radio tower west of Balloon Fiesta Park on Oct. 10, 2004. The hot air balloon became entangled in the 50,000-watt tower with two children and their pilot inside. Retired Los Ranchos Fire Department Lt. Dan Barela recalls the horrors of the incident when he and a PNM worker rescued all three inside. There were no injuries reported from the incident.
"It was myself and a PNM worker that ended up climbing up there to where two kids and the pilot were. I got to the first kid, and then the other gentleman was behind me. We passed that kid off to him, and he took him down," Barela said. "I continued climbing to the second child and then lowered him to a platform. I had him stage there with a harness while the PNM worker climbed back up to him, and I proceeded to climb up to the pilot. He had climbed down a little bit, but it was still pretty close to the top."