Updated

Updated · KOB 4 · Aug 22

New Mexico National Guard Stands By as 15,000-Acre Frijoles Fire Reaches 38% Containment

Updated

Updated · KOB 4 · Aug 22

New Mexico National Guard Stands By as 15,000-Acre Frijoles Fire Reaches 38% Containment

Q: Why are firefighters forced to abandon direct attacks and rely on indirect tactics to tame the Frijoles megafire?

Firefighters have had to back off from sustained direct attack on parts of the Frijoles Fire because the blaze is burning in remote, steep and roadless terrain in and near the Pecos Wilderness, where getting crews safely to the fire’s edge is often impossible or too dangerous. Officials have repeatedly said the fire is active in rugged canyons and mountainous country not accessible by roads. In that kind of landscape, crews cannot reliably cut line right on the perimeter, move engines in, or quickly extract firefighters if conditions change. Even where fire behavior has moderated to creeping and smoldering, inaccessible hot spots can still flare. Weather has reinforced that problem. Fire managers have warned of hot temperatures, low humidity, thunderstorms, lightning, erratic winds and sudden outflow gusts. Those conditions can quickly shift fire direction and intensity, making a close-in attack unsafe in terrain with limited escape routes. As a result, crews are leaning on indirect tactics: using aircraft to drop retardant and water in hard-to-reach areas, building and improving containment lines where terrain allows, and extending contingency lines to protect communities such as Cordova and Truchas. In wildfire operations, indirect attack is typically used when fire intensity, access limits or topography make direct suppression unsafe or ineffective, and that is the operational reality on the Frijoles Fire.

3 articles · Updated · KOB 4 · Aug 22

38% containment has been reached on the Frijoles Fire in Santa Fe County, where crews are pressing a more aggressive attack after rain helped dampen flames.
The blaze has burned more than 15,000 acres since lightning ignited it on Aug. 4, though officials have lifted GO status for residents in Camino de Cañon and allowed them home.
The New Mexico National Guard has not yet been called in but is prepared to support first responders with traffic-control checkpoints, medical-evacuation standby and aerial reconnaissance.
Guardsmen flew over the fire Friday to map access and conditions, and officials said they will remain on standby until the last firefighter leaves the mountain.
About 1,000 personnel are battling the fire in the Pecos Wilderness amid extremely dry conditions that have kept New Mexico's fire season unusually active.