Two Kinds of Fire

A Wildland Fire is any non-structure fire that occurs in the wildland. There are two types of wildland fires. They are wildfires and prescribed fires.

Wildfires are unplanned ignitions or prescribed fires that are declared wildfires.

Some wildfires that occur naturally, by lightning, can be managed to achieve multiple objectives. 

Fires can be managed using a broad range of actions, from full suppression to allowing a fire to take its natural course.

Prescribed fires are planned ignitions. They are ignited by management actions to meet specific objectives such as reducing hazardous fuel (brush, pine needles, etc) accumulations to prevent or reduce the intensity of a wildfire.

Teacher fire

The Teacher Fire, at 50 acres, is creeping in grass and downed logs. Minimal growth occurred yesterday. Due to the steep terrain and the amount of snags and wind projected, the decision was made for health and safety not to place wildland firefighters into the area. Today, resources will continue to prep FR 713 back to CAT-C021.

Gravel Fire

The Gravel Fire is estimated at 355 acres. The fire is located in the Bear and Whitewater-Baldy fire scars. All resources will begin prepping the Gilita Tank Road, FR 28, and the Bursum Road (NM 159) along the east and southeastern portions of the fire. This area also has a high concentration of snags so the decision was made not to put wildland firefighters in the area.

Snow Lake is still open as are the Dipping Vat, Willow Creek and Ben Lilly Campgrounds. Smoke will be visible from main roads in that area. Smoke-sensitive individuals and people with respiratory or heart disease are encouraged to take precautionary measures. Information on air quality and protecting your health can be found online at the New Mexico Department of Health website at https://nmtracking.org/fire .

For information on the Gila National Forest, check out our website at http://www.fs.usda.gov/gila