The New Mexico Forestry Division would like to update you on several wildfires that are requiring the attention of state, local and federal resources in New Mexico. Intermittent precipitation throughout the state has benefited firefighting efforts. More is expected today and through the weekend. The Forestry Division will not issue an update over the weekend unless there is significant new fire activity.
State Managed Fires
Hart Canyon Fire
Situation: The Hart Canyon Fire is 17 acres and 10% contained. The fire received strong winds yesterday, but all lines held overnight. Today’s operational period will focus on getting water to portions of the fire, as well as mopping up and securing lines around the fire’s perimeter. The Hart Canyon fire is burning in Colfax County, north of Philmont Scout Ranch. The fire was started by lightning at 1:30pm on August 9, and is burning in mixed conifer and ponderosa pine.
Resources: 49 personnel are currently assigned to the fire, including two hand crews, six engines, two bulldozers and air resources.
Weather: Scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 79. West wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Evacuations/closures: Campers and livestock from nearest Philmont backcountry camps have been evacuated. The fire is three miles away from the nearest structures.
Sunset Fire
Situation: Today’s containment percentage for the Sunset fire has increased to 70%. All fire lines continue to hold; the fire is in monitor and patrol status. The lightning-caused fire started on Saturday, August 5, south of Highway 70 between Capitan and Roswell.
Resources: 50 personnel are engaged in response, including two hand crews, air attack and multiple engines from local and state resources.
Weather: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. Northwest wind around 10 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Evacuations/closures: There are no evacuations or road closures. No structures are currently threatened.
West Fire
Situation: The lightning–caused West fire is 200 acres and at 30% containment. Yesterday brought no growth on the fire, and no smoke is visible from Highway 60. Fire continues to receive slight moisture. The West fire started August 1 on the Double H Ranch west of Magdalena, NM, on Aug 1.
Resources: 12 personnel are engaged in response, including one hand crew and three engines.
Weather: Showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly after 3pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 84. Northwest wind 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Evacuations/closures: There are no evacuations or road closures.
Federally Managed Fires
West Fork Fire
Situation: Today’s containment percentage has increased to 90%, and the West Fork fire is exhibiting low fire behavior associated with winds from passing thunderstorms. The lightning-caused fire started August 7, and is currently 43 acres. It is located in San Juan County, northwest of Navajo Dam, approximately 6 miles south of the NM-CO State line. This will be the last notification on this fire unless significant changes occur.
Resources: Bureau of Land Management and San Juan County Fire Department are responding to this effort.
Weather: The local forecast shows scattered showers throughout tonight and tomorrow.
Evacuations/closures: There are no evacuations or road closures. However, the fire is in the vicinity of oil and gas well pads. Members of the public should avoid the West Fork Fire area.
Black Feather Fire
Situation: As of this morning, the Black Feather Fire is 2,158 acres with 0% containment. In response to the lightning-caused fire, the Santa Fe National Forest has issued a closure order in part of the Coyote Ranger District. See bit.ly/BlackFeatherClosure for more information and a corresponding map. While the predicted rain and thunderstorms did not materialize yesterday, the calmer weather allowed crews to continue work on the fire line all day, where they were able to identify and contain hotspots beyond the established fire edge.
Today, crews will continue their full-suppression strategy as they work to connect containment lines using a combination of equipment, existing road systems, and handline. Prep work on older road systems, including Forest Roads 93, 103, 76, and 70, will continue to improve and begin to tie together the primary and contingency lines near the surrounding communities. Hotshot crews on the eastern edge are working to provide access closer to the fire’s perimeter, and structure protection crews continue to evaluate and develop a response plan in the event the fire moves closer to the surrounding communities.
Resources: 464 personnel are currently engaged on the fire. Current resources on the fire include 7 hotshot crews, 25 engines, 3 helicopters, 4 dozers, 5 water tenders, and numerous fix-wing aircraft.
Evacuations: The communities of Mesa Pinebetal and Mesa Poleo have been placed in ‘Set’ status. The community of Wetherill is in ‘Ready’ status. The Coyote Senior Center is open to evacuees and livestock can be taken to the Rio Arriba Rural Event Center near Abiquiu. The Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office is coordinating evacuations, for more information, visit the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/
Safety: Please stay out of the fire area to allow crews safe access to the fire. A Temporary Flight Restriction is in place around the fire area. Please do not fly drones anywhere near the fire. If you fly, we can’t fly.
Weather: Temperatures are expected to rise to around 80º today, with relative humidity falling below 30%. Winds today will come out of the west at around 10 mph, with gusts up to 20. Moisture will begin to push in this weekend with potential scattered showers and storms from the south. Rain chances will increase significantly through the weekend as monsoonal moisture becomes more established across the state.
Restrictions/Closures: The Santa Fe National Forest has a partial closure order in place for the Coyote Ranger District. See bit.ly/BlackFeatherClosure for information and a corresponding map. Forest Road 103 is closed to non-residential traffic. Please use caution if traveling in the area and keep an eye out for firefighters and heavy equipment in the area. Closures will be adjusted based on fire activity.
Smoke: Smoke-sensitive individuals and people with respiratory problems or heart disease are encouraged to take precautionary measures. Air quality information is available at https://www.airnow.gov/
Fire Information: 505-460-0499. InciWeb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
American Mesa Fire
Situation: Despite sunny, warm conditions over the fire area, the American Mesa Fire continues to hold at 756 acres and is 35% contained. The wildfire is 15 miles southwest of Dulce. Crews are monitoring the fire and look to take advantage of direct attack strategies where opportunities allow. There are no immediate threats to structures. Two helicopters were used today to secure hotspots along the fire’s edge. An Infrared (IR) Flight is scheduled for August 10th to identify other hotspots within the fire perimeter that need to be worked. Unless significant activity changes, American Mesa Fire Updates will be posted every other day.
Weather: The forecast today calls for partly cloudy skies with a 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Temperatures may be cooler with breezy conditions and gusty and erratic winds expected near thunderstorms in the afternoon.
Social Media: The public can get updates for the American Mesa Fire on InciWeb, New Mexico Fire Information and Carson National Forest social media channels on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
Below is a summary of selected fires burning in the Gila Wilderness.
Weather: Scattered showers forecast with increasing coverage over Gila area over next couple of days. Minimum RH of 25 – 35% with overnight recovery of 60 – 90%. Gusty outflow winds associated with passing storms.
Turkey Fire
Situation: The Turkey Fire is located 9 miles northeast of Cliff, New Mexico and estimated at 5,200 acres with 0% contained. Most of the activity is on the east side of the fire and smoke still may be visible from Buckhorn, Cliff, Gila and Silver City if fire behavior increases. A dozer, road grader, hand crews and several wildland fire engines are assigned to the fire. Resources will focus on clearing existing trails and roads in order to contain the fire on the east end. Crews are clearing and repairing Forest Road 282, also known as Sheep Corral Road, which will act as fire breaks. Showers and thunderstorms are forecast for the area on Friday and Saturday. With predicted weather, crews will be monitoring approaching thunderstorms very closely that may impact the area. Road and trail closures are in place and the public is asked to avoid the area.
Pasture Fire
Situation: The Pasture Fire ignited on July 23 and is approximately 10,500 acres and 52% contained. The fire is located in the North Fork of Negrito Creek. Today’s plan is to transition to local Type-4 control, with the expectation of 100% containment by end of today’s shift. Fire behavior is minimal – creeping with significant precipitation received over multiple days. Crews will continue to hold, improve, and patrol existing containment lines, implementing repair operations.
Dark Fire
Situation: The Dark Fire started July 12 southeast of Reserve. It is 3,975 acres, and 6% contained. Significant precipitation has occurred over the fire area, and there is minimal fire behavior. Crews will be working to establish fire lines along the eastern side of the Dark Fire utilizing heavy equipment and existing road systems. Firing in order to secure containment lines may take place if conditions allow. Daily shower and thunderstorm chances are expected to continue, peaking during the afternoon hours. A total of 86 personnel are on the incident.
Divide Fire
Situation: The Divide Fire is 26514 acres, and 94% contained. 41 personnel have responded, including 1 T2 hand crew, 1 T2 IA crew, 1 T3 Helicopter, 2 T6 engines, 1 ambulance, 1 squad. The plan today is to transition to local Type- 4 control. Expectations are for 100% containment by end of today’s shift.
Prior & Porcupine Fires
Situation: The Prior and Porcupine fires have transitioned to local control, with no reported change in size or containment. No resources will be on the ground, and both fires will be monitored via lookout. No smoke was showing on Porcupine, and Prior was showing some light scattered smoke. Both fires received light to moderate rain yesterday, with additional precipitation forecast for today. If conditions dry out and heat up again, resources will be sent in next week to assess potential for future growth. Significant growth is not expected at this time, however isolated smokes are expected in the coming weeks.
Fire Weather Summary
Moisture will increase today and into the weekend, bringing more widespread showers and thunderstorms. Storms today will favor areas along and west of the central mountains. Locally heavy rainfall will be possible over the weekend, along with an increased risk of flash flooding, especially at recent burn scars. Monsoon activity will continue into next week with the best coverage of storms across the northern and western high terrain. Temperatures will trend cooler, staying near to below average west of central mountains, above average in the east.
Northern New Mexico – Isolated showers and thunderstorms after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 82. West wind 10 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Tonight, scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly between midnight and 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 57. West wind 10 to 15 mph becoming northwest 5 to 10 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%.
Southwest New Mexico – Showers and thunderstorms, mainly after noon. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. High near 73. North wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Tonight, showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 52. North wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.
Smoke Conditions
Fire activity in New Mexico and other states is leading to increased smoke conditions. A daily Smoke Outlook for Northern and southern New Mexico is available through the U.S Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program.
Individuals sensitive to wildfire smoke should take precautions and use the New Mexico Department of Health 5-3-1 Visibility Method to determine if it’s safe to be outside. Learn more at https://nmtracking.doh.nm.gov/
Internet / Social Media
The public can continue to follow fires in New Mexico on InciWeb, New Mexico Fire Information and New Mexico Forestry Division’s X account (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
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