Above: Map showing the location of the Diener Canyon Fire between Grants and Gallup, New Mexico at 3:48 a.m. MDT April 15, 2018.
Five large fires in New Mexico have burned 19 structures and over 57,000 acres.
Now that the wildfire activity in Arizona and New Mexico is increasing, firefighting resources from across the country are arriving to assist the local agencies and departments.
The fire responsible for 16 of the destroyed structures, the “246 Fire“, is five miles north of Capitan and is being managed by New Mexico State Forestry. It started April 12 but the spread has slowed to creeping. Crews are working on mopup and rehab.
Soon after it made the news the reported cause of the Diener Canyon Fire on the Cibola National Forest was an escaped prescribed fire, but now officials are saying “the exact cause of the Diener Canyon fire is currently being investigated.” John Pierson’s Type 1 Incident Management Team is managing the 6,106-acre Diener Canyon Fire and the nearby Blue Water Fire which has blackened 1,000 acres also on the Cibola National Forest. The cause of the Blue Water Fire is an abandoned campfire. Both of these fires started April 12, 2018.
The spread of the 2,644-acre Rattlesnake Fire five miles north of Capitan has also slowed.
The “206 Fire” burning in both New Mexico and Texas has destroyed three structures, including at least one residence.