Santa Fe National Forest gets new acting Supervisor

While the Forest Supervisor of the Santa Fe National Forest, Debbie Cress, is temporarily assigned to the acting Deputy Chief of Staff position for the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, James Duran will serve as acting Supervisor for the next four months. This is occurring while the largest fire in the recorded history of New Mexico, the Hermits Peak / Calf Canyon Fire, is still not officially contained.

From the Associated Press:

Some have questioned the timing given that the wildfire has yet to be declared contained and recovery work has just begun.Forest officials have dismissed criticism, saying the opportunity for Cress to work at headquarters initially came up in January and was the culmination of her work over the past year with the agency’s leadership.

Cress acknowledged in a statement Friday that it was difficult timing as her home state deals with the aftermath of the massive wildfire.

Debbie Cress
Debbie Cress. USFS photo.

The 341,735-acre fire is the result of two prescribed fires on the Santa Fe National Forest that escaped control. One was  a broadcast burn that crossed control lines during a strong wind. The other originated from slash piles that were ignited in late January that continued burning for months. In mid-April one or more of the piles became very active and began spreading and merged with the other escaped fire on April 22.

In 2018 another pile burning project on the Santa Fe escaped months after it was ignited and had to be converted to a wildfire. A Facilitated Learning Analysis found that “communication” and “prescribed fire preparation and risk” were common themes.

Ms. Cress began as the Forest Supervisor in April of 2021. Three months before, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported, she had transferred from a District Ranger position in Arizona to be the Deputy Forest Supervisor on the Santa Fe National Forest.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Jim and Gerald.

The four active large fires in New Mexico have burned nearly half a million acres

1:38 p.m. MDT May 20, 2022

Map Calf Canyon Hermits Peak Fire 3:49 a.m. MDT May 20, 2022
Map of the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire. The bright red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:49 a.m. MDT May 20, 2022.

The four largest active wildfires in New Mexico all continued to grow Thursday and have burned a total of more than 476,000 acres. Red Flag Warnings are in effect Friday for winds gusting from 30 to 40 mph with single digit humidity.

The 303,701-acre Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire northwest of Las Vegas was subject to single digit humidity and strong winds Thursday afternoon, 10 to 20 mph with 30 to 40 mph gusts out of the west. Since the east side is somewhat secure most of the additional spread was limited to the west side, which experienced in some areas fire behavior described as “extreme, crowning, group torching, and spotting.”

Smoke over the Calf Canyon - Hermits Peak Fire
Smoke over the Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak Fire May 18, 2022 by pilot Travis Graham.

The Black Fire 28 miles west-northwest of Truth or Consequences consumed more vegetation on the northwest, northeast, east, and southeast sides. Fire officials said in some places it spread for three miles, growing on the southeast side to within one or two miles of Hermosa. It has burned 104,969 acres.

Map Black Fire 3:49 a.m. MDT May 20, 2022
Map of the Black Fire. The bright red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:49 a.m. MDT May 20, 2022.

Most of the spread of the 21,687-acre Bear Trap Fire 34 miles southwest of Socorro was on the south side Thursday. Hand crews are prepping and conducting tactical burning operations, some of which may be conducted by aerial ignition. Limited movement to the east off the San Mateo crest is expected due to non-continuous fuels in several recent fire scars.

Map Bear Trap Fire 3:49 a.m. MDT May 20, 2022
Map of the Bear Trap Fire. The bright red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:49 a.m. MDT May 20, 2022.

The 45,605-acre Cerro Pelado Fire six miles southwest of Los Alamos has been relatively quiet for several days.

Updates on four large wildfires in New Mexico

Updated at 5:28 p.m. MDT May 18, 2022

Red Flag Warning for the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire
Red Flag Warning for the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire, May 19-20, 2022. NWS.

The National Weather Service has taken the unusual step of issuing a Red Flag Warning one and two days in advance for the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire 21 miles east of Santa Fe, New Mexico. The prediction is for winds gusting from the west and southwest at more than 30 mph with single digit relative humidity. Similar conditions will exist at least on Thursday for the area of the Black and Bear Trap Fires in southwest New Mexico.

Updated 12:10 p.m. MDT May 18, 2022

Map Black Fire 914 p.m. MDT May 18, 2022
Map of the Black Fire. The bright red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:48 a.m. May 18. The red line is the perimeter at 9:14 p.m. May 17. The white line is the perimeter about 48 hours before.

On Wednesday the northern half of New Mexico is under a Red Flag Warning. Isolated dry thunderstorms are predicted for portions of New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado.

The Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak Fire 21 miles east of Santa Fe, NM was active on the west side Tuesday, but there was very little significant activity on the east side between Mora and Las Vegas.

The Cerro Pelado Fire 25 miles west of Santa Fe was relatively quiet Tuesday. There has been no major spread for several days and a satellite was only able to detect one large heat source early Wednesday morning.

Black Fire, May 16, 2022
Black Fire, May 16, 2022. IMT photo.

The Black Fire (see map above) 28 miles west-northwest of Truth or Consequences made another large run to the east Tuesday adding another 21,000 acres to bring the total up to 77,360. Fuel treatments and wildfires that have occurred over the last 20 years may slow any major spread to the north, west, and south, but the NIFC database shows no significant history of fire east of the incident.

Map Bear Trap Fire 943 p.m. MDT May 17, 2022
Map of the Bear Trap Fire. The bright red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:48 a.m. May 18. The red line is the perimeter at 9:43 p.m. May 17. The white line is the perimeter about 24 hours before.

Another fire in southwest New Mexico, the Bear Trap Fire, is 34 miles southwest of Socorro. It spread southwest on Tuesday and was mapped Tuesday night at 15,215 acres. The fire is surrounded by fuel treatments and prescribed natural fires on all sides except for the southwest — which is where the most of the spread has occurred during the last couple of days.

Bear Trap Fire
South side of the Bear Trap Fire, May 16. IMT photo.

5:10 p.m. MDT May 17, 2022

map Cerro Pelado and Calf Canyon - Hermits Peak Fires
Map showing the location of the Cerro Pelado and Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak Fires, the evening of May 16, 2022.

High temperatures and very low humidity on Tuesday kept most of the large wildfires in New Mexico very active.

Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak Fire

The Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak Fire 21 miles east of Santa Fe has become the largest fire in the recorded history of New Mexico. At 299,565 acres it has eclipsed the previous record set by the 297,845-acre Whitewater and Baldy Fires when they burned together in May of 2012 in Southwest New Mexico. On Tuesday it was again putting up a large smoke column while a 5 to 20 mph wind gusted out of of the northwest, west, and southwest at 25 mph. The humidity dropped to 10 percent in the afternoon.

Cerro Pelado Fire

On Monday most of the fire activity on the 45,605-acre Cerro Pelado Fire was on the northwest and southeast sides. On Tuesday the fire 25 miles west of Santa Fe was putting up much less smoke than the Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak Fire, judging from the Satellite photo below taken at 3:56 p.m.

Continue reading

Update: Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak Fire May 15

9:35 a.m. MDT May 15, 2022

Map Calf Canyon Hermits Peak Fire 343 a.m. May 15, 2022
Map of the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire. The bright red areas represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:43 a.m. May 15, 2022.

The spread of the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire in Northern New Mexico has slowed in recent days compared to the rapid spread seen early last week during very strong winds and ultra low humidity.

The fire was mapped Saturday evening at 288,942 acres. Most of the activity at that time was on the west flanks, and on the north side near Holman, Chacon, Cleveland, and Mora. Crews are working to keep it away from structures and are putting in additional firelines. The perimeter on the east side between Las Vegas and La Cueva has been secure for several days.

Three Incident Management Teams are assigned. The Southwest Incident Management Team 3 (SWIMT3) has assumed command of the southern half of the fire. The SWIMT 1 took management of the northern half, and the California IMT 2 will work to the north on a bigger-picture strategic plan for control, identifying additional locations where containment lines may be constructed.

The weather forecast for Sunday is west to southwest winds 15 to 20 mph, with gusts to 25 on the north and central zones. Temperatures will range from the upper 60’s to mid-80’s depending on the elevation, with a minimum relative humidity 7 to 11 percent. Even though the wind speeds are not extreme the fire will remain active, with critically dry fuels and near-record high temperatures.

Firefighters on the Calf Canyon - Hermits Peak Fire
Firefighters on the Calf Canyon – Hermits Peak Fire, near Highway 434, posted by Santa Fe National Forest May 12, 2022.