2022-05-05 07:00:00
Biden approves disaster funds as New Mexico firefighters battle fires
President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for New Mexico’s wildfires that have spanned at least 165,276 acres.
Claire Hardwick, USA TODAY
NEW MEXICO – President Joe Biden will be traveling to New Mexico this week in the wake of multiple record-breaking wildfires scorching hundreds of thousands of acres of the state’s forest land this year.
Biden will meet in Santa Fe Saturday, June 11 at the New Mexico State Emergency Operation Center with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, first responders and emergency personnel.
New Mexico is still battling two of the largest wildfires in its history — the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire in the Santa Fe National Forest and the Black Fire in the Gila National Forest. They are burning over 605,000 acres collectively and are the first and third largest wildfires in the recorded history of the state.
The Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire started out as two separate fires and merged in mid-May. The Hermits Peak Fire started as the Las Dispensas prescribed burn in the Pecos/Las Vegas Ranger District. Strong winds caused the fire to jump containment lines and then grew exponentially. The Calf Canyon Fire was traced back to a pile burn holdover from January. The collective fire is burning 318,172 acres as of Tuesday and is still showing moderate fire behavior, though containment has increased to 65%.
Lujan Grisham has been critical of the federal government, calling on the Biden Administration to take responsibility for initiating a natural disaster that has destroyed at least 330 homes and left a financial toll in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
The Black Fire started in mid-May due to human causes, though the specifics are still under investigation. When this wildfire started, the northern New Mexico fire was already reaching historic acreage. However, the Black Fire, in a mostly uninhabited part of the Gila National Forest, grew at an even faster rate than the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire.
By the time Biden visits, the Black Fire will likely be the second largest in state’s history. Though its growth has slowed, it’s possible the Black Fire will have burned more acreage than its northern New Mexico counterpart. As of Tuesday, 292,770 acres have burned and 49% of the Black Fire’s perimeter was contained.
Apart from these two historically large fires, New Mexico has also experienced several other notable wildfires.
The McBride and Nogal fires in the Lincoln National Forest threatened Ruidoso and surrounding communities in mid-April — early for the New Mexico fire season. Hundreds of homes were burned and families were displaced. Community members are still working to recover from losing everything in the blazes.
Two people were reported to have died in the McBride Fire, making it the only fatal wildfire in the state so far this year.
The Cerro Pelado Fire started in late April in the Santa Fe National Forest near Bandelier National Monument, Jemez Pueblo and Los Alamos National Laboratory is now 95% contained. The blaze has burned over 45,000 acres and required evacuations of nearby areas.
West of Socorro, in the Cibola National Forest, the Bear Trap Fire started in early May and has burned over 38,000 acres of land and is 98% contained.
More recently, the Foster and Cinnamon Fires ignited in the New Mexico bootheel at the end of May. They have collectively burned over 8,500 acres of land and are contained or nearly contained.
The most recent wildfire to gain attention is a small 37-acre fire ignited in the Lincoln National Forest June 3 by a lightning strike. The Cienegita Fire is only regarding four miles northwest of the already hard-hit Village of Ruidoso.
While containment percentages may be increasing, this does not mean that the fires are extinguished. Rather, fire crews have portions of the perimeters contained and under control. The state’s fire season is still underway and while the North American monsoon season technically begins in mid-June, New Mexico will likely not experience the precipitation that comes with it until later in the summer.
As the rainy season approaches, officials are worried regarding flash flooding, landslides and destructive ash from burn scars, according to reporting from the Associated Press. Lightning strikes brought to the area by thunderstorms also may very well start new fires New Mexicans will have to deal with.
Biden will travel to New Mexico following the Summit of the Americas held in Los Angeles from June 8-10.
More wildfire coverage:
Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.
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