Calmer weather Thursday gives firefighters a chance to gird for higher winds
May 5—Roughly two days of opportunity lie ahead for firefighters taking on the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, a leader of that fight said Thursday morning.
Todd Abel, an operations section chief for the fire, said wind is expected to abate for roughly 48 hours, giving teams a chance to further establish bulldozer lines and other containment lines and to try to prepare and protect buildings. He warned that high winds over multiple days are expected to follow this interlude.
A briefing from the National Weather Service briefing in Albuquerque confirmed firefighers' fears: conditions in New Mexico will be exacerbated Saturday through Tuesday by extreme wind, dryness, elevated temperatures and dust.
Scott Overpeck of the weather service said conditions were going to grow severe over a four-day stretch.
Overpeck used terms such as "red flag warning" and "dangerous."
"And we don't like to throw those around too much," he said. But the fact is, the conditions look bad for firefighting over an extended period, he added.
Winds will blow 30 to 50 mph during this period with gusts hitting 60 to 70 mph, he said.
Although firefighting leaders stressed calmer conditions could help them over about 48 hours, they also noted that things could turn sour for them after that.
And that is what Overpeck described.
He said the unusually low humidity, dry conditions and wind could affect many parts of the state. "And it's just going to allow any wildfires to continue to spread," he said. "Yeah, we're pretty confident."
He said New Mexico has faced bad days for firefighting over the past few weeks, but those typically took place over only one day at a time. The four-day stretch is of great concern, he said.
"It's not just going to be one day, it's going to be several days in a row."
Meanwhile, San Miguel County Deputy Manager Jesus Romero said Thursday the fire remains a mile or a mile-and-a-half from the city of Las Vegas. The city is set for evacuation but it isn't mandatory.
"So far, so good," Romero said.
"There's been plenty of people that evacuated just for their safety," Romero said. "They were prepared for the worst."
Romero said the situation appeared was a bit better in Las Vegas Thursday morning.
"It looks like it's just smoldering versus a full-blown fire today," he said.
The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire has burned 165,276 acres and was 20 percent contained.
The word was more encouraging for the Cooks Peak Fire east of Taos, where the fire was 97 percent contained with 59,359 acres burned.
The Cerro Pelado Fire, seven miles east of Jemez Springs, was only 13 percent contained and had burned 29,368 acres.
And fire officials reported other fires in New Mexico as well. Among those are the Bear Trap Fire in the San Mateo Mountains. The fire wasn't contained at all, according to the New Mexico Fire Information website, and had burned 2,309 acres. The website said it wasn't a threat to communities as of Wednesday night.
The Water Fire on the southeast corner of the Gila National Forest was 75 percent contained and had burned 765 acres. That fire was northeast of Silver City and the Bear Trap Fire was southwest of Socorro.
Abel pointed on a map to the vast perimeter of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire during a short video news conference Thursday and said, "Yesterday was a good day for us." He said bulldozer lines had been created in the vicinities of Cleveland, Mora and other communities.
They were also being drawn east of the community of Ledoux and the fire was being held west of the vicinity of Luna Community College in Las Vegas.
He said in the Gallinas and El Porvenir areas, "We have multiple, multiple structure groups out there," meaning fighters were preparing buildings in an effort to protect them in those areas and elsewhere.
Abel said winds aren't as intense Thursday and the temperature was down.
"But after that we get into very, very extreme weather, high winds," he said.
