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Category: Front Page News Front Page News
Published: 10 July 2019 10 July 2019

Bear Fire
The lightning-caused Bear Fire is approximately 7 acres, burning on National Forest System lands on the Black Range Ranger District, Sierra County, NM. This fire was reported on July 9 and is burning in Indian Peaks that had prescribed fire last year. This fire is demonstrating low to moderate fire behavior. One of the values on this fire is the El Paso Electric power lines that go into power station in Springerville, AZ.

Skid Fire
The lightning-caused Skid Fire is less than one acre, burning on National Forest System lands in the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. This fire was discovered on July 10. This fire is ½ mile south of Morgan Creek. This fire is demonstrating low fire behavior.

Summary: Visual reconnaissance has shown that these naturally-ignited fires are doing good things for the land. These fires are in a monitor status using lookouts and aerial reconnaissance. These fires are all exhibiting low to moderate effects, cleaning up dead and down trees, and debris from previous fires, and reducing ladder and surface fuels. These fires will continue to reduce hazardous fuels accumulation and improve resiliency to wildfires and insect outbreaks during drought years.

Smoke from fire rises during the daytime, but in the evening can pool down in canyons, drainages, and basins, and we expect there may be smoke visible in Kingston, Hillsboro, and Truth or Consequences. For information on air quality and protecting your health, and to find guidance on distances and visibility, please visit https://nmtracking.org/fire. Smoke monitors are set up in Winston and Mimbres. Live tracking can be found at https://app.airsis.com/USFS/UnitMap for smoke monitor units USFS1054, and USFS1036 Fire information can be found at nmfireinfo.com and on Inciweb.

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