Crews make progress as Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire surpasses 300,000 acres

May 19—Three multiagency incident management teams attacking the massive Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire seized on improved weather conditions this week to slow its spread in Taos County and its advance toward Pecos.

The momentum — which may be short-lived as new weather systems blow in, threatening to return the area to critical fire conditions — came as three national forests in New Mexico were scheduled to shut down. The Santa Fe and Carson forests, where the blaze continues to devour fuels dried out by an ongoing megadrought, will close Thursday, as well as the Cibola National Forest.

The closures are set to end July 18 but could be rescinded earlier, the U.S. Forest Service announced in a news release Wednesday.

Also Wednesday, the New Mexico State Parks Division announced several parks will close Thursday, and statewide fire restrictions will take effect.

In the Gila National Forest, where the Black Fire has grown to over 77,000 acres since it sparked May 13 in a wilderness area, Stage 2 fire restrictions were set to begin Thursday.

Jayson Coil, an operations section chief for the incident management team assigned to the northwestern side of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, said crews "have made excellent progress along the eastern side of the fire. ... Along with that, we realize the threat still exists for Angostura, areas out to the west, and then for Angel Fire, the Black Lake area, Sierra Bonita, and then Chacon to a certain extent."

Brent Davidson, an operations section chief assigned to the southern area of the blaze, said crews have had success holding it along containment lines in most sections of its southwestern edge but were prepared to stop it closer to Pecos if it raged farther west. Groups have continued bolstering structure protections in Pecos and other communities in the Pecos Canyon area, he added.

The wildfire was at 301,971 acres Wednesday morning, indicating it had spread 2,400 acres in a day's time. In two days, the fire grew about 4,000 acres, compared to growth of 10,000 to more than 30,000 in previous days. Containment has grown to 34 percent, with about 2,000 personnel deployed to fight it.

"If we can make it through the next couple of days," incident commander Carl Swope said in a briefing Wednesday evening, "things are going to be looking really good. But it's going to be definitely a couple of challenging days."

Fire behavior analyst Stuart Turner was more blunt: "Tomorrow will be a big burn day, as will Friday," he said.

Gusts from the west will test well-established control lines on the eastern side of the fire and could spark new blazes farther out, with the possibility of spot fires developing from embers blown up to a mile from a torched tree, Turner said.

Crews continued working Wednesday to connect possible containment lines north of the blaze to the 2020 Luna Fire burn scar and build lines toward Angel Fire, officials said.

Coil said they are creating 300-foot-wide fuel break lines by removing downed trees and thinning live trees to prevent crowning, when the fire burns up to the tops of trees. They are leaving a canopy of live trees to provide shade, he said, which reduces the likelihood of an ember sparking.

In the meantime, they are also striving to prepare communities that lie in the fire's path.

Structure protection groups face tough choices, Coil said. Some homes are far less defensible than others because of thick vegetation growing too close them.

"Basically, if we think the fire is going to reach there in a day and we have a choice of saving 10 homes that are more defensible or saving one home that isn't, we will save the 10 homes that are," he said. "Ideally, we would like the time to save all 11. But when we have to make choices, we will choose to save the most."

Crews also understand the significance of nearby ski resorts and cultural sites, he added, and are working with the Sipapu Ski & Summer Resort, which lies northwest of Angostura, to ensure protections.

Ground crews and aircraft making water drops were working together Wednesday to halt the fire's spread in that area, Coil said.

But Turner's modeling showed the fire making a run northwest to Tres Ritos — and closer to Sipapu — and northeast across N.M. 518 within the next few days as storms systems bring dry air and elevated wind gusts that likely will ground firefighting aircraft.

"Tomorrow is going to be a busy day ... for initial attack," Turner said, speaking of the high potential for spot fires that will send crews racing to extinguish them.