Gila Las Cruces Type 3 Incident Management Team
Ricky Cox—Incident Commander
Buzzard Fire
Cooler Temperatures and Higher Humidity Have Decreased Fire Activity
June 16, 2018 Daily Update
Acres: 47,370 Start Date: May 22, 2018
Cause: Human-caused Location: 10 miles NE of Reserve, NM (Gila NF)
Containment: 74% Fuels: Timber (litter, grass and understory)
Total Personnel: 274
General Information: More moisture continues to move over the fire area. The fire area received nearly a half an inch of rain overnight. The Gulf moisture that arrived yesterday moderated fire activity with higher relative humidity, cooler temperatures, and small amounts of rainfall. Low intensity fire was observed yesterday as the fire continued to slowly back down in drainages where it is burning mainly in stands of pine. Crews are taking advantage of these moist conditions to continue to strengthen and secure control lines. As these lines are secured, fire suppression repair and rehabilitation efforts continue and additional needs are being planned in the southwest portion of the fire.
Fire Operations: Today, crews will first assess safety conditions before engaging in work assignments to determine safe footing and travel. Monitoring of the fire will occur to see how the rain has affected fire movement and spread. Work will continue to use these moist conditions to mop up and secure control lines. Additional heavy equipment such as excavators and rubber-tired skidders will be used to pull brush and small logs over dozer lines to aid in revegetation along the southern edge.
Fire Safety Awareness: A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect through Saturday afternoon for the San Francisco River Valley and Southwest Mountains. A Flash Flood Watch means that conditions may develop that could lead to flash flooding. Burned areas from recent fires may be especially susceptible to flash flooding. Be cautious around rising water in arroyos and small streams. Stay out of flooded low water crossings. While river flooding is not expected, rapid rises in streams and arroyos is likely.
Fire Weather: Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico continues to move into southwestern New Mexico through Saturday. Cloudy, cool, and moist conditions with scattered to numerous showers are expected throughout the day today. Sunday will dry out and bring back a more typical warmer and drier pattern for much of the week ahead.
Closures: The area around the fire remains closed for public safety until lifted by the Gila National Forest. Roadblocks have been set up by local law enforcement. In support of this closure, the Continental Divide Trail has been rerouted around the fire closures. The trail reroute map is available at https://bit.ly/2GRESFw . More closure information is available at https://bit.ly/2LvwKhN . For information on Stage 2 Fire Restrictions, please visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/alerts/gila/alerts-notices/?aid=46143 .
Smoke Situation: As fire activity decreases, air quality will improve over the weekend. For more information on air quality and health impacts due to wildfire smoke, please visit the New Mexico Department of Health website at https://nmtracking.org/fire. Smoke concentration data is available at: https://tools.airfire.org/monitoring/v4.
Fire Information Links: Fire information can be found at http://nmfireinfo.com and http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5814/ . For information on the Gila National Forest, please visit http://www.fs.usda.gov/gila .
Fire Information: (602) 529-5924 Office Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
InciWeb: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/5814/ Email: buzzardfireinfo2018@gmail.com