Forest Service puts temporary stop to prescribed burns

May 21—As the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire moved to 306,472 acres Friday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham praised the U.S. Forest Service's decision Friday to put a temporary halt to prescribed burns, blamed for sparking the largest blaze in New Mexico history.

In a statement issued by the U.S. Forest Service, Chief Randy Moore said because of "extreme wildlife risk conditions in the field," the agency will conduct a 90-day national review of its prescribed burn policies.

"In 99.84 percent of cases, prescribed fires go as planned," Moore said in a statement. "In rare circumstances, conditions change, and prescribed burns move outside the planned project area and become wildfires."

The Hermits Peak Fire, which began April 6 when a prescribed burn went awry, was nearly contained when the Calf Canyon Fire broke out April 19. The two fires later joined, creating an unprecedented blaze that has burned significant portions of San Miguel and Mora counties and is now in Taos County. Lujan Grisham has estimated 1,000 homes or more could be lost.

Lujan Grisham, who met Friday in Washington, D.C., with officials from several federal agencies overseeing forest management and disasters, said she was pleased by the announcement.

"While we're clear about the long-term importance of carefully studied and well-managed prescribed burns as tools to improve forest management, it is critical that federal agencies update and modernize these practices in response to a changing climate," she said in a statement.

Lujan Grisham also reiterated her request to President Joe Biden that the federal government assume 100 percent responsibility for the costs related to the response and recovery from the fire. A spokeswoman for the governor said Lujan Grisham had not yet received a commitment to the request.

The governor has said state officials must have a voice in federal prescribed burn efforts. She said forest management authorities are responsible for conducting the prescribed burn that escaped control April 6, driven by what the Forest Service said were unexpected high winds.

Investigators still have not determined the cause of the Calf Canyon blaze.

Julie Anne Overton, a spokeswoman for the Santa Fe National Forest, said earlier this week officials do not believe the Calf Canyon Fire was connected to pile burns firefighters conducted in that area back in January.

Meanwhile, federal efforts to help New Mexicans affected by the fire continue. As of Friday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved nearly $1.2 million to help residents recover, Angela Byrd, a spokeswoman for FEMA, wrote in an email.

She said 617 applicants have been approved for disaster assistance through FEMA's Individual Housing Program, while Disaster Survivor Assistance field operatives have helped 754 residents apply for aid.

More than 2,700 firefighters are engaged in battling the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, which was 40 percent contained Friday.

Officials said they were pleased with the fight Friday, largely because crews were able to keep the fire from jumping N.M. 518 near Angostura. Though winds had worried officials throughout the day, most spot fires had been caught in what managers are now calling the fire's western zone.

However, one spot fire got loose at the far northwestern edge of the fire, prompting an evacuation of areas near N.M. 73 near Peñasco.

Potential trouble also loomed farther south in the Bear Creek area, where the fire is active east of the small community of Cowles. San Miguel County Sheriff Chris Lopez said he was worried about the communities in the upper Pecos Canyon corridor, where there is only one way in and out.

"It's an area of concern to me, and I just want those individuals who live in that area to know that and to be prepared," he said, adding it's possible evacuations would be needed in that area in the next few days when winds shift.

Fire crews may get a temporary ally in a cold front moving in from the north that will bring lower temperatures and moisture, said Chuck Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.

Overall, the winds will drop to the 10 to 20 mph range through the weekend.

Jones cautioned cooler temperatures will push the smoke closer to the ground, creating potential air quality issues for residents in Las Vegas, N.M., plus Mora, Pecos, Española, Santa Fe and possibly Albuquerque.

"The cooler the air, the heavier it is, so it is going to force smoke high in the fires to stay closer to the ground," Jones said.

Meanwhile, at least three other wildfires are raging across the state. The Black Fire, burning about 30 miles northwest of Truth or Consequences, is at nearly 105,000 acres and zero percent contained. About 475 firefighters are fighting that blaze, which was human-caused, though investigators are still looking into the specifics. The fire began May 13.

The Bear Trap Fire, which started May 1, has burned 21,687 acres in the San Mateo Mountains and is 28 percent contained. More than 700 firefighters are on that blaze.

Fire crews have had more success with the Cerro Pelado Fire in the Jemez Mountains, which has burned 45,605 acres and is now 75 percent contained.