Retired firefighter recalls Smokey Bear balloon crash 20 years later

It's been 20 years since Smokey Bear, a hot air balloon, struck a 670-foot radio tower west of New Mexico's Balloon Fiesta Park. It happened on Oct. 10, 2004. The hot air balloon became entangled in the 50,000-watt tower with two children and their pilot inside.Last week, a different hot-air balloon lifted off for day 7 of Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta and hit a radio tower, causing it to collapse.Following last week's incident, Retired Los Ranchos Fire Department Lt. Dan Barela is recalling the horrors of the 2004 incident when he and a PNM worker rescued all three people during the Smokey Bear balloon incident. There were no injuries reported from the 2004 incident. "We were at the Balloon Fiesta two days ago, and we were reminiscing about the tower, and we said, 'It looked like a balloon was getting close to it.' So, we were wondering, 'God, I hope no one ever looks into it. And, of course, that struck up the conversation of 20 years ago when Smokey Bear Balloon had collapsed on that tower," Barela told sister station KOAT, adding, "Never did I think it would actually happen again." "It was myself and a PNM worker that ended up climbing up there where two kids and the pilot and I had started to climb," Barela said of the 2004 incident. "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. 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 of him."