Partly cloudy. Low 47F. S winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..
Partly cloudy. Low 47F. S winds at 15 to 25 mph, decreasing to 5 to 10 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
The interactive online evacuation map as it looked Monday evening (May 23). Red means "Ready," yellow means "Set," green means "Go!" and grey, according to Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe, means "Preparedness." In central and northern Taos County, authorities are more concerned about new fires that may ignite amid drought and extreme weather conditions than the danger currently posed by the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire.
John T. Denne/For the Taos News
A huge smoke plume rises from the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Sunday (May 15), as seen from Llano Largo.
The interactive online evacuation map as it looked Monday evening (May 23). Red means "Ready," yellow means "Set," green means "Go!" and grey, according to Taos County Sheriff Jerry Hogrefe, means "Preparedness." In central and northern Taos County, authorities are more concerned about new fires that may ignite amid drought and extreme weather conditions than the danger currently posed by the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire.
John T. Denne/For the Taos News
A huge smoke plume rises from the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Sunday (May 15), as seen from Llano Largo.
Updated May 23 at 5:00 p.m.
In an update, fire officials assigned to the 311,165-acre Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire said Monday (May 23) that "favorable weather aided firefighters in making good progress" over the weekend, which saw "minimal fire growth" thanks to concerted air resource deployment and mild weather conditions. "Hot Shot crews and helicopters have been successful in preventing fire from becoming established and moving through heavy timber north of Martinez Pond. Five Hot Shot crews will continue work in the rugged terrain south of N.M. 518 to secure line and protect the communities along the highway corridor." The blaze, to which 2,930 personnel are assigned, was 40 percent contained on Monday.
Rock Wall, Las Mochas and Sipapu residents are being allowed to return to their homes after the Taos County Sheriff's Office announced that the zone along N.M. 518 had transitioned from "Go!" evacuation status back to "Ready" status.
"The communities of Penasco, including Picuris Pueblo, El Valle, Las Trampas, and Vallecito will be downgraded from "Ready" status (Red) to no status (Gray)," according to a Monday afternoon press release. "The communities of the N.M. 73 corridor and Vadito, Placita, and Rio Pueblo will be downgraded to "Ready" status.
"Fire crews established protection lines in and near Ripley’s Peak and on the western edge, which prompted the evacuation and closure of the N.M. 73 corridor," the release stated, adding that the eastbound N.M. 518 road closure has been moved to Sipapu.
Additionally, Colfax County Sheriff Leonard Baca announced Sunday evening that the communities of Hidden Lake, Black Lake and Black Lake Resorts, which were ordered to evacuate May 11, have transitioned back into "Set" status.
"We were able to repopulate communities [Sunday] morning," Sheriff Leonard Baca said, asking residents to "please be aware of your surroundings."
Angel Fire is now on "Ready" status. Crews and equipment have been pouring into the Moreno Valley for the past week, establishing fire breaks and other fire mitigation strategies in preparation for a worst-case scenario that appears ever-more unlikely as more cooperative weather aids firefighters.
"There's the possibility — this fire's got enough energy — that those areas are going to see fire," said Todd Abel, operations section chief for the Southwest Area Incident Management Team, speaking during a community briefing last week.
"Crews are working to put a hose lay in all around the perimeter of Angel Fire," Operations Section Chief Jayson Coil said last week.
Crews continued to battle flames south of N.M. 518 near Angosutura, where a spot fire that began last week within the Santa Barbara Land Grant east of Peñasco led to the issuance of the now-rescinded "Go!" evacuation orders for the N.M. 73 corridor.
"From Angostura west, this is the nastiest piece of line that we've put crews on," Coil noted Sunday evening. Officials said over the weekend that steep terrain in the forest around Jicarita Peak is causing a high incidence of "roll down," when trees, pinecones or other burning debris roll downhill, sparking new spot fires.
Meanwhile, a new spate of evacuations began Sunday near the southwest edge of the fire near Pecos, where Holy Ghost, Tres Lagunas, El Macho and Lower La Posada are now in "Go!" status.
Thousands of firefighters have ramped up efforts to contain the fire, which began April 6 after a U.S. prescribed burn in the Santa Fe National Forest got out of control, then merged with another wildfire about 10 days later. Powered by a historic string of high-wind red flag days, the blaze became the largest fire in the state's history on May 16.
Authorities here continue to monitor the situation in southeastern Taos County, but in another welcome piece of good news, District 5 Taos County Commissioner Candyce O'Donnell reported Sunday night (May 22) that no structures within the county have been damaged by the fire.
"Right now, our primary focus is the Sipapu area, and our secondary concern is the Taos Canyon zone," Taos County Undersheriff Steve Miera said last week, adding that the county would continue to assess the threat to the large swath of land within the Taos Canyon zone, which stretches north from NM 518 near Angostura and Sipapu, past US 64 and up Taos Canyon.
The Sheriff's Office has also taken the proactive step of putting a majority of county residents on what it's calling "Preparedness" evacuation status, reflected by gray shaded areas on the latest National Interagency Fire Center online evacuations map Colfax County has also implemented "Preparedness" zones in areas as far north the New Mexico-Colorado border.
"We put another layer on it that means there's no active threat in your area, but you have time to prepare your house, clear deadfall and brush, gather valuables, heirlooms, family photos, things of that nature, and get a go-bag ready," Hogrefe told the Taos News. "So if a new fire starts, you can leave and you've already made your home home as defendable as it can be and firefighters can defend it."
He said that the threat to areas in most of the Taos County's "Preparedness" status zones comes largely from new fires that may start amid drought conditions and extreme weather conditions. Authorities have been using gray shading to indicate zones around the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire that may soon be put on "Ready" status, but Taos County and Colfax County are the first to expand the "Preparedness" zones to such a wide area.
Visit nmfireinfo.com/information/ to learn more about the three official levels of evacuation readiness. A real-time evacuation map is available online.
John Paul Bradley, Sipapu general manager, told the Taos News last week that the resort had removed the chairs from Lift 1 and Lift 5 in order to allow for the operation of the lift in case the fire burns onto the resort.
"That way we can run the lift to keep the haul rope from getting too hot and snapping," as well as preventing the chairs from being damaged, Bradley said, adding that Sipapu still had electrical power. He estimated the blaze was about 2 and 1/2 miles away on Wednesday (May 18).
"We're a good resource, and with the cell tower working, first responders can have communication, and we have water that can be pumped," he said. "Whatever we can do to help keep it from hitting Sipapu also means we're keeping it from hitting Santa Barbara and Peñasco. This is our community."
Last Tuesday (May 17), Section Chief Coil said that crews had begun working on the ground south of Shady Brook and Valle Escondido earlier to establish a "Northern Line" contingency fire break, which, once completed, will stretch across 25 miles following a ridge system between the Angel Fire–Black Lake area and Pot Creek, south of Talpa.
He estimated that construction of the Northern Line could take up to two weeks to complete.
"We are not going to sacrifice an opportunity to prevent it from getting into the [U.S.] 64 corridor by attempting to do something that's in so close we don't have a chance to be successful," Coil said, adding that dozer crews are working in concert with firefighters to establish a fire break from northwest of Chacon and adjacent to the Luna Fire burn scar, down to NM 518 near Angostura.
Construction of the 25-mile "shaded fuel break" outside of Taos, "is gonna be a race," he said.
A Red Cross evacuation shelter that was set up at Peñasco High School more than a month ago, has been put on standby, according Debbie Bishop, the most recent Peñasco site manager, who added that the Red River Convention Center shelter site had also been shut down for the time being due to a lack of clients.
Hogrefe advised evacuees to head for the Juan I Gonzales agricultural Center in Taos, where a "back-up shelter" is also being prepared at Taos Middle School.
The sheriff also advised all Taos County residents to pack a go-bag, regardless of evacuation status. Tips on making an emergency plan and what to pack in a go-bag are available online at ready.gov.
"Because of how dry we are, and the potential for new fires to start, all of Taos County should be prepared," Hogrefe told the Taos News.
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Holy WOW that photo is intense/amazing.
One of the most up to date and thorough reports plus map that we've seen! Thank you, Taos News.
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