Fire

Wildfire Preparedness Is Year-Round: Don’t ‘Fall’ Behind

by

SFNF News:

SANTA FE — Fall is not the time to fall behind on wildfire preparedness. Although much of New Mexico has seen a robust monsoon season, large wildfires in other parts of the country have created competition for firefighting resources at the national level.

The national wildland fire preparedness level is currently at 4 out of a possible 5, which means approximately 80 percent of all incident management teams and firefighting personnel are committed to incidents, and some fires may last until winter snow falls, putting additional stress on exhausted personnel.

The Santa Fe National Read More

Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire Coordinated Recovery Response Open House Thursday Sept. 15

by

SAIMT News:

TAOS — Multiple agencies are coming together 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15  for an open house to provide a one-stop coordinated event for recovery response and resources at Abe Montoya Recreation Center, 1751 N. Grand Ave., Las Vegas, NM.

The open house will provide members of the public who have been impacted by the Calf Canyon-Hermits Peak Fire an opportunity to meet one-on-one with representatives from local, state, and federal partner agencies to find out about available assistance. There will not be a public meeting associated with the open house. 

REMINDER for landowners whose Read More

Coalition Supports Counteracting Misinformation On Wildfire

by

GSFFC News:

SANTA FE — The Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition (GSFFC) supports the best-available science and is promoting a new paper titled Counteracting wildfire misinformation published by the Ecological Society of America.

This paper addresses misleading claims often made about wildfires, some of which have taken root in Santa Fe. Ensuring access to the best available wildfire science is a key function of the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition. 

The Coalition was founded seven years ago to proactively address the wildfire crisis in the Santa Fe area by using the best available science Read More

UWNNM Live United Interns Making Important Impact

by

UWNNM Intern Natalia Maestas

UWNNM News:

UNM-Los Alamos student Natalia Maestas and Northern New Mexico College student Chris Perez are the first of five Live United Interns to be hired to perform duties to further the work of United Way of Northern New Mexico (UWNNM) to improve the lives of children and families through service collaboration.

In their first two weeks, Maestas and Perez presented new 40-page printed 2-1-1 Resource Directories to a coalition of nonprofit and government first responder agencies at the Rio Arriba Community Health Council.

In the months ahead, the Interns will Read More

USDA Rural Development Increases Grant Fund Limits For Those Homes Damaged By Forest Fires In New Mexico

by

Director Patricia Dominguez

USDA News:

ALBUQUERQUE — U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) State Director Patricia Dominguez announced today the department will be increasing grant funding to those areas in New Mexico receiving a presidential disaster declaration because of this summer’s forest fires.

“This funding will help offset the cost to repair homes that were damaged by wildfires that we saw ravage our state this summer,” Dominguez said. “The once in a lifetime grant will increase from $10,000 to $36,520 for those elderly low-income residents living in rural Colfax, Lincoln, Read More

Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition Releases Virtual Field Tour Of Pacheco Canyon Forest Restoration

by

GSFC News:

SANTA FE — April 21, the Greater Santa Fe Fireshed Coalition (GSFC), in partnership with the Fire Adapted New Mexico Learning Network (FACNM), and the Forest Stewards Guild, hosted a field tour of Pacheco Canyon to discuss the history of wildfire resilience treatments in the area, including how thinning and prescribed fire treatments slowed the 2020 Medio Fire’s forward progress.

This virtual field tour and video was funded in part by the USDA’s Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership. Treatments on the 2,042-acre Pacheco Canyon project protected significant values Read More

Scene: Emergency Response To Gas Leak On Canyon Road

by

The scene of a hazmat truck, police, firefighters and an ambulance responding to a gas leak caused by a contractor breaking a pipe during road construction Friday on Canyon Road near Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church. Police instructed people at the church, Los Alamos High School and Gold Street Apartments to shelter in place until gas to the area could be shut off, which took just a few minutes. Photo by Amy Birnbaum Read More

SFNF Revises Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Closure Order To Open Pecos Canyon Corridor, More Of Pecos Wilderness

by

Map of temporary area and road closure for Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Post-Fire Impacts. Courtesy/SFNF

SFNF News:

SANTA FE — The Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) today reduced the size of the temporary area and road closure for the Hermits Peak Calf Canyon Fire, reopening an additional 214,000 acres that were closed to public access under the previous closure order.

The reopened areas include the Pecos Canyon corridor and the Pecos Wilderness west of Skyline Trail 251.

Most of the popular campgrounds, dispersed camping sites and trails along the Pecos River corridor are reopening in time Read More

FEMA Expands Qualifications For Disaster Unemployment Assistance For 2022 Wildfires In New Mexico

by

NMDWS News:

ALBUQUERQUE — Earlier this year, Disaster Unemployment Assistance (DUA) was made available for individuals whose employment was impacted by the 2022 Wildfires.

Following the approval of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s request to expand the federal Disaster Declaration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has expanded this disaster declaration to include flooding, mudflows, and debris flows directly related to the 2022 Wildfires.

An individual may be eligible for DUA if they lived, worked, or had to commute to or through one of the affected counties of Colfax, Lincoln, Read More

SFNF Lifts Cerro Pelado Fire Burned Area Closure

by

SFNF News:

SANTA FE — The Santa Fe National Forest (SFNF) rescinded the revised closure order at 6 a.m. today for the Cerro Pelado Fire burned area on the Jemez Ranger District.

However, the Jemez National Recreation Area flood risk closure, signed June 24, remains in effect.

With the termination of the Cerro Pelado burned area closure, the public can now access Forest Service lands, roads and trails within an area roughly defined by Forest Roads (FR) 10 and 10H on the west, then moving south along FR 271DB, 271, 271F and 266 to the boundary with Jemez Pueblo, then east t FR 132, north on FR 132, 282 and Read More