About 67 structures have burned, including about 30 homes and numerous vehicles.
Continue readingWildfire burns approximately 30 homes in Timberon, New Mexico
Small fire camp burned over in New Mexico
Three firefighters rode horses into a wilderness area in the Gila National Forest to assess the Turkey Fire in early June. As they were setting up fire camp the least experienced of the three began to construct a fire line around the location, but the Incident Commander, who spent 17 years on a local hotshot crew, told him not to bother, explaining that nearby meadows would keep the fire from spreading toward their camp. After dropping off their equipment, they left to develop a plan to protect a cabin.
Upon returning they discovered that the fire had burned through the site, destroying all of their supplies and equipment.
You can read the entire report at the Lessons Learned website, which is the source of these photos.
Dog Head Fire continues to spread to the east near Chilili, New Mexico
(UPDATE at 1:47 p.m. MDT June 19, 2016)
The Dog Head fire, 3 miles north of Tajique, New Mexico, continued to spread to the east over the last two days, adding approximately 1,500 acres, to bring the size up to 17,617 acres. The fire is working its way through fingers of timber on ridges that are separated by grassy areas in the flatter ground in between the ridges.
Higher humidity moderated fire behavior on Saturday but the forecast for Sunday includes 13 percent RH, temperature about 90 degrees, and wind out of the southeast at 9 mph. Weather forecasters expect 14 mph southwest winds on Monday with slightly higher humidity.
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(UPDATE at 8:35 p.m. MDT June 17, 2016)
The Dog Head Fire 17 miles southeast of Albuquerque was less active on Friday than on previous days. This was due in part to lighter winds and the fact that in some areas on the east side the fire has spread beyond the timber into much lighter fuels where it can be attacked more successfully by firefighters and aircraft.
A satellite overflight at 1:30 p.m. on Friday detected very few heat sources. But stronger winds in the late afternoon may have changed that situation.
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(UPDATED at 6:42 a.m. MDT June 17, 2016)
The incident management team reports that 24 single residences and 21 other minor structures have been destroyed in the Dog Head Fire near Chilili, New Mexico.
On Thursday the fire continued to push towards the east and northeast toward Chilili Land Grant. Approximately 16,000 acres have burned, according to the IMT.
Hot, dry and unstable weather is in the forecast from Friday into the weekend.
Satellite photo shows three large columns of smoke in Arizona & New Mexico
Above: map showing three large columns of smoke in Arizona and New Mexico, at 5:15 p.m. MDT, June 15, 2016.
The satellite photo above shows three large columns of smoke in Arizona and New Mexico. We have tentatively identified them, but this is not yet confirmed, as the North Fire (25 miles southwest of Magdalena, NM), the Dog Head Fire (about 25 miles southeast of Albuquerque, NM), and the Cedar Creek Fire, a new fire 12 to 16 miles southwest of Show Low, Arizona.
The North Fire is a limited suppression fire, while the other two are being fully suppressed.
The Cedar Creek Fire started around noon on Wednesday and by 3 p.m. had burned about 1,000 acres. Strong winds were pushing it toward Show Low. Fire officials have identified a trigger point. If the fire reaches the B65 Road they will order evacuations of Show Low and Forestdale.
Earlier today we posted information about six fires in these two states, including the North and Dog Head fires.
Strong winds were predicted for parts of Arizona and New Mexico today, along with a Red Flag Warning for the area southeast of Albuquerque, NM.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom.
Wildfire activity in Arizona and New Mexico
Above: Dog Fire, June 14, 2016. Photo by Incident Management Team.
Cool, wet weather has slowed wildfire activity in Northern California, Washington, and Oregon. The 2,396-acre Pony fire on the Klamath National Forest, about 15 miles southwest of Happy Camp, received rain on Tuesday.
It is a different story in Arizona and New Mexico where more than half a dozen fires have burned significant acreage. All of them are limited suppression fires except for the Dog Head Fire that started Tuesday morning.
Jack Fire
This limited suppression fire has burned 36,408 acres in central Arizona 24 miles southeast of Sedona. This is an increase of about 11,000 acres over the last three days. There is a red flag warning in effect from 11 a.m. Wednesday morning to 7 p.m. in th evening due to strong winds and low relative humidity for the area. Higher temperatures and low relative humidity are expected over the next couple days.
Dog Head Fire
Rich Nieto’s Type 2 Incident Management Team will assume command of this 682-acre fire Wednesday evening. It started at 11 a.m. on Tuesday and as of Wednesday morning voluntary evacuations are occurring for Monzano Morning, Aceves Road, and La Parra Road.
Today they expect temperatures in the 80s and low 90s, southwest wind of 10 to 25 with gust to 35, and relative humidity around 10 percent.
It is about 25 miles southeast of Albuquerque, New Mexico on the Cibola National Forest and National Grassland. This is the only one of these six fires that is not a limited suppression fire.
McKenna Fire
This limited suppression fire northwest of Silver City, New Mexico has burned 10,210 acres since it was reported on May 6.
North Fire
This limited suppression fire has burned about 22,000 acres 25 miles southwest of Magdalena, New Mexico since it was reported on May 21.
Spur and Turkey Fires
The Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico is releasing very little information about these two limited suppression fires that at last report had each burned between 2,000 and 3,000 acres.
Strong wind causes Coyote Fire to awaken
(UPDATED at 8:26 a.m. MDT May 25, 2016)
Pushed by strong winds over the last couple of days the Coyote Fire in Guadalupe Mountains National Park has grown by approximately 1,770 acres to about 13,590 acres. The fire started May 7 in the west Texas park and spread across the border into New Mexico.
After being downgraded from a Type 2 fire to a Type 3, it was escalated back to a Type 2 after the fire began spreading again on May 22. Richard Nieto’s Type 2 incident management team arrived May 24.
The area is under a Red Flag Warning on Wednesday.
The National Park Service has not provided any information on InciWeb about the fire since 5 p.m. on May 23.
KRWG has an article about a fire crew comprised of veterans being assigned to the fire. Below is an excerpt:
New Mexico State Forestry is sending two crews from the Returning Heroes Wildland Firefighters program to aid wildfire suppression efforts at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas. One crew arrived at the park today and a second is pre-positioned in Ruidoso in Lincoln County.
[…]
The Returning Heroes Wildland Firefighter Program was created to provide veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces with training and work opportunities to fight wildland fires. Previously a pilot program, Returning Heroes was made permanent and signed into legislation by Governor Susana Martinez in 2014.
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(UPDATED at 12:52 p.m. MDT May 24, 2016)
While we are waiting for an update from the National Park Service about the Coyote Fire in New Mexico and Texas, we’ll post this graphic showing the wind gusts out of the southwest and west at weather stations in and near in Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
The updated forecast for the fire area for Tuesday is for southwest winds of 22 gusting to 32, 87 degrees, and a relative humidity of 7 percent. Wednesday will be about the same, except the sustained wind speed will be 32 mph with gusts as high as 47 mph. Strong winds are in the forecast through Saturday.
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(UPDATED at 5:25 p.m. MDT, May 23, 2016)
Pushed by very strong winds, the Coyote Fire in Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas flared up again, prompting the park to re-escalate the management structure back to a higher qualified Type 2 incident management team. Originally there was an initial attack organization running the fire, then a Type 3 team, then Type 2, then Type 3, and now it is going back to a Type 2 team. Transition periods from one team to another can be dangerous.
Strong winds on Sunday “pushed fire further past Bush Mountain ridge toward Guadalupe Peak” according to a news release by the park. We believe this area is on the southwest side of the fire and on the map is above the word “Park” in “Guadalupe Mtns. National Park”.
The weather forecast predicts very strong afternoon winds to continue through Thursday. Sustained winds during the daylight hours will be in the 25 to 35 mph range with gusts from 35 to 50 mph. The minimum relative humidity will be from 6 to 10 percent, and no rain is expected the rest of this week.
Only 10 percent of the fire is being fully suppressed. The other 90 percent is a combination of Confine, Monitor, and Point Protection strategies. The fire has been burning for 17 days. The longer a fire is allowed to spread without suppression, the greater the chance of encountering a wind event that could change the complexion of the incident.
#CoyoteFire Image of Pecos Type 3 Team at Guadalupe Mountains a few days ago. Fire is near Bush Mountain. Way2go T3! pic.twitter.com/oogse3yxai
— GuadalupeMountainsNP (@GuadalupeMtnsNP) May 21, 2016
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(UPDATED at 5:30 p.m. MDT May 16, 2016)
On May 16 the National Park Service said they are “actively monitoring” the Coyote fire, which has burned 11,820 acres in western Texas and southeast New Mexico.
Yesterday: There was limited new growth on the fire yesterday. However, fire managers continued to actively monitor the fire as some heat remained in interior pockets of unburned forest debris and brush.
Today: Red flag weather conditions, including strong winds and low humidities, are predicted to develop over the fire area today. Crews will continue to monitor the fire for any wind driven flare-ups. Some interior smoldering is likely to continue, producing light, visible smoke.
“Although there was limited growth yesterday, we will remain vigilant,” said Eric Brunnemann, Superintendent of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. “This is still an active fire area and may remain so for some time.”
Prescribed fire at Ft. Bliss in New Mexico
Above: Prescribed fire on Ft. Bliss in New Mexico, April 11, 2016. Photo by Shawn Giorgianni.
In the past, wildfires have escaped from the artillery practice ranges on Ft. Bliss in the New Mexico Organ Mountains near Rucker Canyon with some of them burning onto Bureau of Land Management and White Sands Missile Range property.
On April 11 personnel from the Fort Bliss Fire and Emergency Services Division completed a prescribed fire that will reduce the chance of a fire spreading outside the Doña Ana Artillery Range.
Fort Bliss is a U.S. Army post in New Mexico and Texas headquartered in El Paso, Texas. With an area of about 1,700 square miles, it is the Army’s second-largest installation, behind the adjacent White Sands Missile Range.
New Mexico legislature approves joining interstate fire compact
New Mexico becomes a member if the Governor signs bill.
Continue readingDrip torch carried on firefighter’s back leaks fuel and ignites, causing serious burns
Last summer a firefighter received severe burns to his back, both legs, and left arm after a drip torch attached to the pack on his back leaked fuel which ignited. The accident occurred September 9, 2015 on the Perdida Fire managed by the Bureau of Land Management northwest of Taos, New Mexico. The firefighter was one of seven igniters assigned to the fire which had a total of nine personnel.
The individual who was injured had been igniting with a drip torch while he carried an extra one attached to the pack on his back. The torch leaked fuel which caught fire.
From the recently released report about the incident:
…Igniter #1 saw that the victim’s line gear and back of his legs were on fire so he tried to put the fire out with dirt and by patting at the flame with his gloved hand. Igniter #1 told the victim to get on the ground and they both fell together. The victim got back up and ran while trying to get his glove off and then his pack, successfully. The victim then stumbled but regained his footing briefly before falling back to the ground. At this point, Igniters #1 and #3 converged and patted out the fire on the victim’s pants…<
The photos below are from the report.
One of the issues pointed out in the report is a significant delay in requesting a medevac. About 40 minutes elapsed before medevac was requested, and that was for a ground ambulance even though the victim apparently had second and third degree burns. That request was quickly upgraded to transport by helicopter. The report concluded that according to the burn injury protocol a medevac should have been initiated upon the determination of second and third degree burns and the remoteness of the incident.
The medevac pilot was unable to communicate with the personnel on the ground because he could not program the frequency into the helicopter’s radio.
The lat/long was called in to dispatch from the incident scene 23 minutes after the helicopter was requested (about an hour after the accident occurred), and four minutes before it landed at the extrication point.
The report recommended that firefighters should avoid carrying extra drip torches on their packs during ignition operations.
We did not see anything in the report about how fire resistant clothing that has not been washed for an extended period of time may, or may not, cause the clothing to lose some of its resistance to fire. But it did say “PPE [personal protection equipment] should be kept clean and inspected often for damage and fuel contamination”.
Jury finds power companies mostly liable for Las Conchas Fire
A jury found two power companies were mostly liable for starting the 2011 Las Conchas Fire northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico that burned 63 structures and 156,000 acres.
Two companies and the U.S. Forest Service share the responsibility for the fire that began when an aspen tree fell into a power line.
Below is an excerpt from an AP article:
Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative operated and maintained the power lines. Tri-State Generation and Transmission Inc. provides the cooperative with electricity.
Jurors in Sandoval County District Court found the cooperative was 75 percent negligent for the wildfire, Tri-State 20 percent and the U.S. Forest Service 5 percent.
The amount of monetary damages will be determined at a later trial.