Crews begin to tame Cooks Peak Fire
New Mexico’s wildfire season is off to an ominous start as several large wildfires expanded on high winds last weekend.
The Cooks Peak Fire, 46 miles north of Las Vegas, N.M., has grown to 55,172 acres as flames moved out of juniper and ponderosa pine forest and spread across mostly sparsely-populated rangeland in Mora and Colfax counties.
“We’re seeing extreme rates of spread,” Larry Smith, public information officer with Southwest Incident Management Team 5 told the Taos News on Saturday (April 23). Friday “was a 2-percent day, according to the incident meteorologist, meaning it was in the upper 2 percent of all extreme fire days. That was epic.”
The National Weather Service in Albuquerque said potential wind gusts this Friday could reach speeds of 50-65 miles per hour.
Fire officials at the base camp in Ocate originally said they were hopeful that the blaze, which began April 17, could be fully contained by May 7. They later extended that timeline to May 28. The cause of the fire, which was 33 percent contained on Wednesday, is under investigation.
Standing at the Cooks Peak base camp, Taos resident and retired Forest Service silviculturist Jack Carpenter looked about a mile north to a ridge across N.M. 120, where ponderosa pine trees were exploding into flames and black smoke. Carpenter, who organizes catering and other support for firefighters, said the ponderosas were probably between 150-250 years old.
“It’s rare to be in a camp and see smoke, let alone flames,” he said. “Just last night, they told us to be ready to leave — highly unusual.” A huge plume of smoke from the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak Fire, about 25 miles south of the base camp, dominated the sky.
As Saturday turned to afternoon, a miles-wide blanket of smoke began to settle on the prairie south of Springer and all points west. Communities across northeastern New Mexico will continue to see heavy smoke for weeks as the region’s prevailing westerly winds also spread smoke from the now-merged, 54,004-acre Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak wildfire, two smaller wildfires in the far northeastern corner of the state, and the Tunnel Fire north of Flagstaff, Ariz.
The Cerro Pelado Fire was identified near Jemez Springs in Sandoval County on April 22. The 5,485 acre blaze has further stretched state firefighting resources and spurred evacuations.
Meanwhile, Carson National Forest officials declared the 5-6 acre Osha Fire off Highway 518 near Peñasco to be fully contained this week.
The Osha Fire was first reported April 22 near the Las Mochas community, after downed power lines ignited surrounding vegetation. The blaze burned within the 2011
Osha Fire burn scar.
Sandoval County said this week that the “Evacuation protocol due to the Cerro Pelado Fire will stay in place and be re-evaluated after the Friday, April 29 wind event.”
At an April 23 press conference, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared a state of emergency for Mora County. “This executive order makes funding and state resources available for communities battling ongoing wildfires,” she said. The order followed similar declarations for Colfax, Lincoln, San Miguel and Valencia counties last week.
Fire officials announced Sunday that residents of Miami, a small community in Colfax County, would be allowed to return to their homes. On Monday, Philmont Scout Ranch was removed from “Go” evacuation status as well.
“Highway 21 remains closed due to fire activity, so residents will need to go through Springer,” according to a Southwest Incident Management Team 5 press release. Several other communities, including Sweetwater, Rayado, Sunnyside in Colfax County, and Los LeFebres and Los Huerros in Mora County, were still under evacuation orders.
Three non-residential structures are reported to have burned in the fire, and 231 area residents have been evacuated; 545 personnel are assigned to the fire, and Smith said no significant injuries have been reported.
“We’re making great headway,” Smith said Wednesday (April 27). “We did extend the temporary flight restriction, and that’s important because we are using air resources and it’s important that people don’t fly drones.
“Today’s going to be our last ‘good day,’” he added. “We are looking at hotter, dryer conditions and, by Friday, we are looking at significant winds.”
Cimarron residents expressed relief last weekend. Most had spent Friday (April 22) on edge, ready to bolt at a moment’s notice as extremely high, south-southwesterly winds carried flames toward their homes and businesses.
“It was scary yesterday,” said Lura Stocking, who lives in Cimarron with her husband, Roger. “It was bad, eerie. There was so much smoke, you couldn’t even breathe. You couldn’t even see the sun — it was just a red dot.”
Roger Stocking, sitting with his wife in Hiker’s Coffee Co. in historic Cimarron, said the proximity of the Cooks Peak Fire, as well as the prominent burn scar from the 2018 Ute Park Fire that lingers on the eastern edge of Cimarron, inspired him to quickly expand the defensible space around the couple’s home.
“We cut some more trees around the house, and loaded the vehicle so we’re ready to go,” he said, thankful for the reprieve after winds shifted the direction of the fire.
Dennis Lee, district forester with Oregon Department of Forestry, stopped into Hiker’s Coffee, where the owners are offering free pastries and coffee to all first responders.
Lee is the Oregon agency’s representative in New Mexico, where hundreds of Oregon firefighters are currently stationed.
“If the wind would calm down,
it would give us a chance,” said Lee, who oversees the Forestry district in Oregon where the devastating Bootleg Fire occurred last July. “It’s extremely dry.
“Twenty three years firefighting, and I’ve seen extreme weather events in the past several years I’d never seen my whole career,” he said.