According to the U.S. National Forest Service in the Santa Fe National Forest, abandoned campfires were down 64% from 2018 Memorial Day weekend.
That’s the good news.
However, Santa Fe National Forest staff found approximately 30 abandoned campfires over the three-day Memorial Day weekend.
In 2018, 84 abandoned campfires were found over Memorial Day weekend.
Most of the abandoned campfires were found on the Pecos and Jemez Ranger Districts. These are the most popular parts of the forest for weekend visitors.
While it was clear to the Forest Service that campers had made an effort to put out some of those campfires, too many of them were literally just walked away from. Which, with the high winds our state has been experiencing, could have been disastrous.
Please put out your campfires. Smokey Bear said it best, only you can prevent forest fires! Let’s work together to keep our state looking beautiful by being cautious with our campfires and by picking up after ourselves this summer.
