Fire crews shift focus to repair efforts
Historic blaze is 93% contained
Teams working on New Mexico’s largest wildfire are now focused on repairing fences and containment lines.
The Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire is at 341,735 acres and 93% contained as of Tuesday.
Shilow Norton, an operations chief with the fire management team, said the last uncontained fire perimeter in the Pecos Wilderness is in good shape.
“There’s no heat showing right now, and we’re not seeing any smoke,” Norton said.
Private landowners can request repairs for fire suppression work that impacted their properties.
Forest crews are rebuilding fences that firefighters cut when the blaze threatened homes and communities earlier this year.
The agency has received repair requests for more than 500 properties in the fire area.
The Forest Service is reseeding land, removing dirt berms and hauling away trees and brush that were cut to slow the fire’s progress.
Repairs could take weeks, especially in rugged terrain around the fire’s northern perimeter.
In some areas, crews place fallen trees across the doused areas so that they aren’t used as roads in the future.
The workers clean up any stray equipment left behind by fire crews.
Crews are removing fallen trees along the Gallinas Creek west of Las Vegas.
“Those trees that are in that drainage could end up clogging up some cul
verts or bridges,” Norton said.
The teams are also repairing fireline damage to forest roads and wilderness areas.
Heavy rain has interfered with repair work in recent days.
Forest workers move heavy equipment away from burn scars and firelines during the storms.
In steep landscapes, the crews are doing the repair work by hand.
“We anticipate more rain every evening, so we’ll just continue to be ready to get out of the way if we have thunderstorms and then be prepared to jump back in and get to work,” Norton said.
About 660 people are assigned to the fire.
More than 3,000 people were working on the incident at the height of fire activity earlier this year.