Updated at 7 p.m. MDT May 2, 2022
![Map Bear Trap Fire May 1, 2022](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Map-Bear-Trap-Fire-May-1-2022.jpg)
At noon on Sunday May 1 the Bear Trap Fire started in Bear Trap Canyon in the Cibola National Forest 36 air miles west-southwest of Socorro, New Mexico. At about 4 p.m. the Southwest Coordination Center tweeted that nine air tankers were working the fire — three Very Large Air Tankers (DC-10s) and six Large Air Tankers — plus four Air Tactical aircraft, a Type 3 Incident Management Team, one hand crew, and eight fire engines. That was an aggressive initial attack.
@VentanaRanch who was using an app to monitor the aircraft at the fire, Tweeted at 4:28 p.m., “Non-stop tankers from [Albuquerque] and Silver City.”
On Monday officials said the blaze had burned 1,209 acres. The fire behavior was described as moderate with isolated torching as it spread through pine, pinyon-juniper, and grass.
At 3 p.m. on Sunday the Magdalena weather station not too far from the fire recorded 10 mph winds out of the southwest gusting to 26, with 5 percent relative humidity. The weather forecast for the fire area on Tuesday calls for 25 mph winds out of the southwest gusting to 36 mph with 11 percent relative humidity. Similar conditions are predicted for Wednesday.
![Bear Trap Fire, New Mexico, May 1, 2022](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Bear-Trap-Fire-New-Mexico-May-1-2022-San-Mateo-Mountains.-FS-Photo-by-S.-Matt-Counts-Cibola-NF-NGs-Air-Attack-2.jpg)
By Sunday night, based on a rough map of the perimeter, the head of the fire appears to have burned into the footprint of the North Fire which burned 42,000 acres in May of 2016. That fire was not fully suppressed, but the strategy of the Bear Trap fire is full suppression.
With about half a dozen other fires in Arizona and New Mexico, some of them very large, the Type 3 Incident Management Team which will assume command at 6 a.m. Tuesday may run into difficulty competing for firefighting resources.The teams on the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire and the Cerro Pelado Fire have listed as critically needed resources a total of 8 hand crews and 20 engines.
![Bear Trap Fire, New Mexico, May 2, 2022](https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Bear-Trap-Fire-May-2-2022.jpg)
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom.