Category Archives: Forest Fires

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona — The Western U.S. on Monday marked another day of hot, dry and windy weather as crews from California to New Mexico battled wildfires that had forced hundreds of people to leave their homes. Several hundred homes on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Arizona, were evacuated and the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort was closed as a precaution because of a wildfire. Crews were expecting gusts up to 50 mph as they battled the blaze. No homes have been lost in the fire reported Sunday that has burned about 8 square miles (20 square kilometers). …The number of square miles burned so far this year is more than double the 10-year national average. …Nationally, more than 6,200 wildland firefighters were battling nearly three dozen uncontained fires that had charred over 1 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

A 57-year-old man arrested Sunday in connection to the Pipeline Fire admitted he burned toilet paper and put it under a rock in the area the wildfire was reported burning at the Coconino National Forest. …Court documents state a deputy from the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office stopped Matthew Riser who was seen driving “rapidly” away from the wildfire. Riser told the deputy he was camping in the area and saw the fire. He said he burned the toilet paper he had used at noon Saturday— the day before the wildfire was reported— but didn’t think it would “smolder all night,” according to court documents. He also said he hadn’t seen the “no campfires” signs. …Riser admitted he had ignited the toilet paper and placed it under a rock Saturday, and that he tried to put out the fire with his sleeping bag. 

A wildfire was burning out of control Monday in forest outside Los Angeles after a weekend of record-breaking temperatures, and as forecasters warn of fire danger across the parched US West. Almost 1,000 acres had been charred by the Sheep fire since it erupted in the Los Angeles national foreston Saturday evening. Thousands were warned to evacuate their homes in the community of Wrightwood, with the fire just five percent contained. Firefighters battling the blaze said it was ripping through an area with thick vegetation. …Over 200 firefighters were battling the blaze, including from the air. …The fire erupted as parts of California and the West were smothered in extreme heat, with temperatures in Palm Springs on Saturday hitting 114 Fahrenheit, the highest for the day since records began. The Southwest has been baked by a once-in-a-thousand-years drought.

FLAGSTAFF, Arizona — Evacuations are in effect in parts of northern Arizona as a wildfire about 6 miles north of Flagstaff steadily grew Sunday, authorities said. Coconino National Forest officials said the Pipeline Fire was reported at 10:15 a.m. by a fire lookout and had burned approximately 4,000-5,000 acres by late Sunday, pushing about 15 miles. In connection with the fire, Forest Service law enforcement said they have arrested and charged a 57-year-old man with natural resource violations. The cause of the wildfire wasn’t immediately known. Coconino County Sheriff’s officials said the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort and people living in the area of the west Schultz Pass Road must evacuate. People living in Doney Park and the area near Mt. Elden should be prepared.

Firefighting personnel worked to fight the nation’s largest active wildfire, making progress on Monday.  The merged Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires in New Mexico are now 50% contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service.  The flames have spread over 315,627 acres and there are more than 3,000 people working to battle the blaze. The Forest Service said Tuesday that community meetings for the incident would be cut back, in collaboration with the Santa Fe National Forest.  “This change is a direct result of the positive progress firefighters have made in containing this fire and limiting fire growth. …The Forest Service highlighted that San Miguel County had lifted evacuation orders for several areas and downgraded pre-evacuation warnings in others.

HIDALGO COUNTY – A new wildfire started Sunday, May 29 in New Mexico’s bootheel, burning in the Coronado National Forest near the state’s border with Arizona. The Foster Fire was first reported to authorities just before 1 p.m. Sunday in the Peloncillo Mountains, about 22 miles south of the town of Rodeo. As of Tuesday morning, May 31, the fire is burning 10,403 acres. No percentage of the perimeter is contained. The cause is undetermined. According to the forest service, crews estimate that full perimeter containment will be attained by June 6. A second wildfire, the Cinnamon Fire, is burning in Hidalgo County’s Animas Mountains, east of the Foster Fire. It has scorched about 921 acres and no perimeter containment has been reported. 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Most of New Mexico’s national forests remain closed as wildfires across the state continue to burn, and closing a forest is not a decision officials take lightly. Julie Anne Overton with the Santa Fe National Forest said the closure was for not only the public’s safety but also the firefighter’s safety. The wildfires and extreme fire danger have also prompted Bernalillo County to close a number of open spaces as well, but the Santa Fe National Forest alone is 1.6 million acres, so how are officials enforcing the closure? Forest Service Law Enforcement will be out patrolling around the forest. “They will probably be patrolling the areas that are most popular with, with folks who’d like to come camping, and hiking, you know, they’ll be checking the really popular spots for recreation, and driving the forest roads,” said Overton.

SANTA FE, N.M. — Two fires that merged to create the largest wildfire in New Mexico history have both been traced to planned burns set by U.S. forest managers as preventative measures, federal investigators announced Friday. The findings shift responsibility more squarely toward the U.S. Forest Service for initiating a natural disaster that has destroyed at least 330 homes as flames raged through nearly 500 square miles (1,300 square kilometers) of high-altitude pine forests and meadows. The wildfire also has displaced thousands of residents from rural villages with Spanish-colonial roots and high poverty rates, while unleashing untold environmental damage. Roughly 3,000 firefighters, along with water-dropping planes and helicopters, continue to fight the blaze as it approaches mountain resorts and Native American communities. Firefighting costs already surpass $132 million, climbing by $5 million a day.

The 201 East Fire in Central Nebraska was very active again Thursday afternoon, as the convection column topped out with a hint of pyrocumulus. Thursday evening fire officials estimated it had grown to 4,100 acres, an increase of about 2,600 acres since Wednesday evening. Much of the growth was on the east side where it ran for about two miles, but when the wind shifted from coming from the west and then north gusting to 30 to 35 mph, it spread to the south where it merged with the Whitetail Fire, which also started from Tuesday’s lightning; it had been stopped at 8 acres, but flared up again Thursday. As of Thursday evening, the additional southward spread had not crossed the Dismal River. Firefighters were battling 90 degree temperatures and strong, shifting winds. Additional firefighting resources are arriving, including hand crews, helicopters, and engines. 

Two national forests in New Mexico are fully closed to the public due to extreme fire danger as several wildfires, including the largest in the state’s history, also burn. The Carson National Forest and the Santa Fe National Forest in northern New Mexico are barring visitors, effective Thursday, due to fire risk that is only expected to get worse due to drought conditions. …The decision comes as over 2,100 fire personnel battle the massive Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire east of Santa Fe, which this week became the largest fire in the state’s history. As of Thursday morning, the fire had burned over 303,000 acres and was 34% contained, state fire officials said. A red flag warning is in effect Thursday for hot, dry and windy conditions.

Wildfires are on a furious pace early this year, from a California hilltop where mansions with multimillion-dollar Pacific Ocean views were torched to remote New Mexico mountains charred by a month old monster blaze. In both places wind-driven flames have torn through vegetation that is extraordinarily dry from years long drought exacerbated by climate change. As the unstoppable northern New Mexico wildfire chewed through more dense forest Thursday, firefighters in the coastal community of Laguna Niguel doused charred and smoldering remains of 20 large homes that quickly went up in flames and forced a frantic evacuation. …Fire officials said there’s not much they could do to stop the fast-moving flames burning in tinder-dry forests in the Sangre de Christo range. It’s simply too dangerous to put firefighters ahead of a blaze that’s moving this hard and fast through overgrown mountainsides covered with Ponderosa pine and other trees sucked dry of moisture over decades.

BLACK LAKE, N.M. – Firefighters in northern New Mexico labored under an apocalyptic orange sky, and vehicles streamed out of the ski area of Angel Fire on Wednesday as wind-driven flames from the state’s second-largest blaze on record roared closer to the mountain resort. With winds gusting beyond 50 mph (80 kmh) through dense, drought-parched forests, exhausted crews were at loss to stop a wildfire that has raged across a 45-mile swath of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains for more than a month, destroying hundreds of homes. Spreading through the rugged, tinder-dry landscape with explosive speed, the springtime conflagration has displaced thousands of residents while raising fears that the entire American Southwest was in for a long, brutal fire season. …The Sangre de Cristo mountains have traditionally seen spring storms dumping more than 2 feet of snow. But climate change has diminished the snowpack … drying out the region and leaving communities more vulnerable to fire.