Pecos residents keep wary eye on fire as growth continues Monday

May 17—PECOS — With the largest wildfire in New Mexico's history continuing to push north and west, residents of the village of Pecos are anxiously watching as the blaze hovers uncomfortably near.

The Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, now pushing the 300,000-acre mark, has already led to the evacuation of many Northern New Mexico communities caught in the crosshairs of the ever-stronger conflagration.

And now — depending on which way the wind blows — the fire's smoke plumes remain easily within sight of the village of about 2,000 people, located about 25 miles from Santa Fe.

As fire crews construct containment lines east of town, the fire hasn't reached the community — or its outlying villages, such as Cow Creek, which were placed on a "go" evacuation status Sunday. But it's apparent officials are preparing for the possibility, moving one of their incident command team centers to Pecos later this week.

It's also possible they will set one up in Santa Fe down the line, said Hugh F. Vallely, one of the incident team liaison officers on hand for a community meeting in Pecos on Monday afternoon.

In his 49 years as a firefighter, Vallely said he had never encountered a blaze like the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire in terms of its scope, unpredictable nature and wind-driven growth.

"This is unprecedented," he said.

Mark Lujan, a Pecos native who joined about 50 others at the community meeting at the village's municipal building, said he thinks the fire "could come closer" as officials placed the village in a "ready" evacuation designation.

Lujan said he wanted to get accurate information directly from fire officials rather than from social media posts that fuel unconfirmed rumors and scare people.

"There's a lot of misinformation out there, so it is raising panic in the community," he said.

Pecos Mayor Telesfor "Ted" Benavidez said he's been fielding phone calls from residents wondering if the fire is at the village's doorstep and if they need to leave town.

He tells them not to listen to gossip because it can spread faster than the fire itself. He said village leaders have worked out an evacuation plan to move residents and their pets to Santa Fe.

"I don't see the village of Pecos evacuating," he said. "I think my town will be all right."

Still, fire officials at the meeting said the always unpredictable winds make fire behavior forecasts difficult.

The short-term news on that weather front is not reassuring. While some storm clouds may bring a touch of rain to the fire area, it won't be enough to make much of a difference, said Clay Anderson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.

And that storm system could lead to lightning strikes in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which could initiate new fire activity, he said.

On top of that, Anderson said wind activity, which was relatively minor over the weekend, may amp up with gusts up to the 60 mph range by Tuesday.

As of Monday afternoon, he said "there's no telling which direction the winds will come in from."

The fire was at least 12 miles east of Pecos as of Monday afternoon, said Brent Davidson, an operations section chief for one of the incident command teams monitoring the blaze.

Lightning strikes will remain a concern, he said — "We don't want any new starts." And outflow winds from those thunderstorms won't help either, he said.

"Any more stress to this system is not to our advantage," he said.

Santa Fe County Fire Chief Jackie Lindsey, who attended the Pecos meeting, said later that day county officials already have evacuation plans prepared lest the fire, or any fire, threaten Santa Fe.

Noting the fire is still "a ways from Santa Fe," Lindsey said she wants county residents to prepare for any natural disaster, including flooding. County fire officials will join others in a presentation on how to follow "ready, set, go" evacuation plans at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at Pojoaque Fire Station 1, 17919 U.S. 84/285, she said.

There were small pockets of good news delivered during a Monday evening news conference in Taos, with authorities saying a steady rain of about 20 minutes did help diminish the fire's impact Monday. And Mora County law enforcement officials said they are slowly lifting some roadblocks to allow for repopulation in some areas there.

Fire behavioral analyst Stewart Turner said during that briefing the fire's growth will be limited in some areas as it consumes all the fuels it can, leaving little to feed on.

Turner said there are "some areas where it is running out of fuels or doesn't want to run anymore." He said he expected only "moderate" fire growth Tuesday.

Officials placed Bull Canyon, Cow Creek and Upper and Lower Colonias in the Pecos area in evacuation status. Mayor Benavidez said some residents who got out of the area with some of their livestock are awaiting permission to go back in and retrieve the rest of their animals.

As of early Monday afternoon, none of those sites was burning, fire officials said.

According to a fire map released Monday by the U.S. Forest Service, the fire made a significant move into Taos County near Angostura, with officials hoping to keep the blaze from jumping N.M. 518, an occurrence that could create a new threat to the Angel Fire area. The entire road corridor is key, officials said.

Meanwhile, according to a news release the Santa Fe National Forest sent out Monday, fire crews continued to make headway against the Cerro Pelado Fire in the Jemez Mountains. As of Monday, that blaze was 62 percent contained and had only grown two acres, to 45,605 acres in all, on Sunday.