Latest news with #Whitewater-BaldyFire
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Iron Fire breaks out in Gila, where forecasters have warned of dangerous fire conditions
Forest Service public information officers pictured during the 2012 Whitewater-Baldy Fire in the Gila National Forest. A 900-acre fire known as the Iron Fire erupted Sunday in the Whitewater-Baldy Fire's burn scar, though conditions have improved Monday, a spokesperson said. (Photo courtesy Gila NF) A 900-acre wildfire broke out Sunday in an area that forecasters have warned for months would experience above-normal wildfire risk. Witnesses reported the Iron Fire around noon Sunday in the Iron Mesa area of the Gila Wilderness. It occurred amid a Red Flag Warning in the area due to dry conditions and wind gusts exceeding 40 mph. The fire ignited in a remote area within the 2012 Whitewater Baldy Fire burn scar and is burning in grass, heavy dead and downed fuel and timber, according to an update from the Gila National Forest. Brace for a bleak water year on top of 'nightmare' fire weather season A spokesperson for the Gila National Forest said Monday afternoon no formal update on the fire was expected until Monday evening, but the conditions are improving. 'We haven't seen significant growth today, under cloudy skies, cooler temps, and much lighter winds. We even had some snow over the fire this morning,' spokesperson Maribeth Pecotte wrote via email. No homes are under evacuation orders, Gila forest officials said in an update, though those at recreational facilities at Snow Lake are ordered to leave. Also, crews are assessing whether structures in the Willow Creek area need to be protected, Pecotte said. Nearly 50 people are responding to the fire, including two helicopters, two engines and two Hotshot teams. Two more teams are on their way, along with four additional engines. High winds Sunday prevented helicopters from collecting water at nearby Snow Lake, according to the Forest Service. As of Monday morning, the last update given, the fire was 0% contained. Its cause has not been determined. The fire occurs in an area where snowpack is far below normal, including some areas in Southwestern New Mexico where it is 0% of the median snowpack that accumulated there between 1991 and 2020. 'It's bad': How drought, lack of snowpack and federal cuts could spell wildfire disaster in NM According to the May national wildfire outlook from the National Interagency Fire Center, citing drought and other factors, all of Southwestern New Mexico should expect above-normal fire conditions. The outlook for much of the rest of the state has improved to normal, however, according to the outlook. In addition to the dangerous conditions, more than 25 people who work in the Gila National Forest were fired earlier this year as part of federal cost-cutting measures. It's not clear how many of them returned to work due to federal orders or how many are on administrative leave. The Silver City Interagency Dispatch Center, which responded to the Iron Fire and handled communications and resource orders, is housed in a building on a list of federal lease terminations identified by the so-called 'Department of Government Efficiency.' U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich's office previously told Source New Mexico he'd received 'assurances' that the dispatch centers would stay open, but he has not yet received official word. See a map below of the fire start location. More updates can be found here.
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
‘It's bad': How drought, lack of snowpack and federal cuts could spell wildfire disaster in NM
A view from Forest Road 141 during the Whitewater-Baldy Fire in the Gila National Forest in 2012. Between incredibly low snowpack and federal cuts, including a lease termination to the dispatch center covering the Gila National Forest, this year is shaping up to be a devastating wildfire season, experts told Source New Mexico. (Photo courtesy Gila National Forest) A new national forecast warns that above-normal wildfire risk will exist through most of New Mexico by April. Meanwhile, federal cuts could leave one-third of the state without dispatchers to monitor for nascent blazes and fewer firefighters to respond if they blow up. Snowpack this year was far below average. Most of the state is in severe drought. Fine fuels, like grass and pine needles, are abundant following two years of moderate precipitation. Meanwhile, the United States Department of Agriculture slashed 3,400 employees, 75% of whom had wildfire-fighting training, according to recent Congressional testimony. Also, two wildfire dispatch centers, including one covering the fire-prone Gila National Forest, are slated to close, thanks to the Department of Government Efficiency's announced lease terminations. Combine all of that and, 'It's bad, man,' said Matt Hurteau, a fire ecologist at the University of New Mexico. 'It's just going to be a matter of the intersection of an ignition and a wind event and high temperatures, and we're off and running,' he said. Maps presented in the new National Interagency Fire Center outlook for March through May showed most of the state slowly engulfed in red, meaning 'above normal' wildfire conditions. Forecasters cited below normal snowpack throughout the state, including 0% of the median snowpack in Southwestern New Mexico between 1991 and 2020. A detailed outlook for New Mexico and the rest of the Southwest was not available, but a NIFC official in a video last week said the 'significant fire potential' will spread from Southeastern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico to the rest of the region by May, with a return to normal conditions in Eastern New Mexico by June. The scenario shaping up in New Mexico is one in which multiple wildfires here and elsewhere quickly exhaust resources across the West, Hurteau said. Incident command leadership, typically permanent employees, will be available and have access to firefighting aircraft, but the seasonal employees' hiring freeze and the gutting of probationary staff —most of whom could be called in to support wildfire suppression —means the West is less prepared than usual for this time of year. 'You can't wake up in April when it starts and be like, 'Oh, yeah, why don't we hire those fire crews on?' he said. 'There's the hiring process and then there's training and qualification and physical fitness exams and all that stuff.' Knowing how gung-ho most wildfire firefighters are, Hurteau said he is deeply worried more of them will get injured or die this season. Even if they're under-staffed, it's in their psychology to put themselves in harm's way to save homes and communities from burning. Cuts could mean one or two firefighters find themselves between a blaze and a home, instead of five or six. 'Most of these folks are hard-chargers,' he said. 'They do take on a lot of personal risk and don't think a thing of it.' Even though the Merit Systems Protection Board last week ordered Trump to reinstate 5,600 probationary employees at the USDA, those who are reinstated face the prospect of being furloughed in a looming government shutdown and then fired, legally, as part of a reduction in force soon after, Hurteau said. So they aren't exactly eager to return, Hurteau said. A critical part of the wildland firefighting infrastructure also remains on shaky ground due to announced federal cuts. Both the Cibola National Forest and Gila National Forest supervisor's offices are slated to be closed in a round of lease terminations, and both of those buildings house interagency dispatch centers. The Albuquerque and Silver City dispatch centers contain high-tech communications and wildfire detection systems, nerve centers covering all of central and southwestern New Mexico, a combined 45,000-square-mile area. When a wildfire is detected, specially trained federal employees from various land-management agencies alert local emergency responders, often volunteer fire departments, to determine the size and strength of the blaze. If it's more than a small brush fire, for example, dispatch centers spin into action, collecting detailed weather forecasts and calling in resources on the ground and in the air, said Jim Whittington, a faculty member at Oregon State University. He is a retired public affairs officer at several federal agencies that responded to wildfires, including the Forest Service during Cerro Grande Fire in Los Alamos in 2000. Dispatch centers play a vital role in preventing wildfires from getting out of hand, he said, or ensuring firefighters handle ones that do escape early suppression as efficiently as possible. Some big wildfires, including the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire here in 2022, required more than 1,000 personnel to contain and hundreds of millions of dollars in suppression costs. 'Just as importantly, if there's a reduction in the number of dispatchers, that puts more pressure on ones that are still there, which means they'll probably work longer, and that cumulative fatigue starts to take a toll,' Whittington told Source New Mexico. 'And so they may miss something. They may make a mistake.' Finding a new lease for the Albuquerque dispatch center, while disruptive and dangerous at the beginning of fire season, is at least feasible in the state's biggest city, according to a federal employee familiar with the challenges who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. It's nearly impossible to find a suitable alternative location in Silver City, the person said. The Silver City dispatch center handled 751 incidents across its 19-million-acre coverage area in 2024, including filling more than 9,000 resource orders, according to a Forest Service news release from last year. In addition to wildfire detection and coordination, the center ensures all aircraft at the Grant County Tanker Base avoid colliding with military aircraft, and they make sure all employees are accounted for throughout the day as they go out in the often remote and unforgiving terrain. No suitable location lies within at least 50 square miles of the current site, the person said. On top of the lease cancellation, more than 25 Gila National Forest employees had been fired as part of cost-cutting measures, the person said. Most resources available to suppress wildfires are federal, Hurteau said, which is why what's happening now is so dangerous. But a state Forestry spokesperson said a surge in volunteers and recent state investments should make New Mexicans breathe at least a little easier. The state is on track to meet its goal of training 1,500 'administratively determined' wildland firefighters this year, spokesperson George Ducker said. Those are people who go through state-offered training and can be called to assist during a wildfire here or in other states. So far, 1,297 firefighters have been trained, including 110 so far this year. Several more trainings are scheduled before April. On top of that, the state now has 37 full-time wildland firefighters in three teams across the state. They're in various stages of achieving 'Hotshot' status, which is the highest level of training and experience. Sign up for trainings here. Training classes have been full so far this year, Ducker noted, possibly due a surge of interest following the wildfires in Los Angeles in January. 'The state is ready,' Ducker said. 'We got this really nasty wake-up call in January with those Los Angeles fires, and so seeing the amount of people that are showing up to get trained is really heartening.' In addition to the surge of 'administratively determined' firefighters, the Legislature is considering several bills funding wildfire mitigation grants for communities at high risk, as well as $12 million for wildfire suppression. Because conditions are so dangerous this year, Ducker reminded the public to be extra careful not to spark wildfires. He said most wildfires in the Southwest are human-caused, and most of those wildfires start from heavy equipment use, escaped campfires and debris burning. To avoid all three of those causes, Ducker urged the public to avoid burning debris or starting campfires on windy days, and calling the local fire department so they're aware. Ultimately, just be careful, he said, and, 'Use common sense.'
