New Mexico On Alert For Wildfires Amid Dryest Conditions On Record

[Purveyor]

New Mexico is a tinderbox ready to spark. In its third consecutive year of drought, the state is currently experiencing the warmest, driest conditions on record.

According to New Mexico state climatologist David DuBois, the trees, plants, and wildlife in more than 93 percent of the state are struggling to survive in extreme or exceptional drought conditions.

The combination of drought and triple-digit temperatures is creating fuels so dry that the smallest spark creates a flame, and minutes later another deadly inferno is raging in the Southwest.

On June 30, 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a wildfire firefighting unit based in Prescott, Ariz., died working the front lines of a fire outside Yarnell, Ariz. The wind shifted suddenly, leaving them with little or no time to seek shelter. A few weeks earlier, the Granite Mountain Hotshots were in New Mexico fighting the Thompson Ridge Fire in the Jemez Mountains, alongside members of the Santa Fe Fire Department's Atalaya Hand Crew.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/05/new-mexico-on-alert-for-wildfires-amid-dryest-conditions-on-record/

[vinny9698]

1. According to conservatives what they need are

volunteer firefighters. No need in paying taxes, when you can convince people to fight fires as a hobby. Of course none of them would volunteer.

[byeya]

2. I fought forest fires in UT, CO, AZ and NM and did associated work. One year, taking daily

fire weather, I found that the wood we used as a surrogate for living trees had less moisture than cured wood in a lumberyeard.
These are truly blowup conditions.

[bluedigger]

3. We have two crews on stand-by here in Cortez, CO.

The threat is constant. I watched them fighting this one up on the rim from the dog park the other day.

The North Rim Fire at Mesa Verde National Park was fully contained at one acre early this morning. Yesterday's initial attack on this very visible small fire included single-engine air tanker retardant drops and helicopter water drops. Mesa Verde National Park engine crews and two 20-person U.S. Forest Service crews also responded. Crews worked all night and reported the fire contained today at 6 a.m.

Durango Interagency Fire Dispatch reports that firefighters responded to eight new lightning starts on public lands yesterday afternoon following thunderstorms across the unit. All but one were contained/controlled at less than 1/10th of an acre or to single-tree fires.

To report a fire on public lands, please contact the Durango Interagency Fire Dispatch Center at 970 385-1324 or call 911.
http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20130703/NEWS01/130709934/-1/News01/Crews-smother-fire-at-Mesa-Verde-

[byeya]

4. Our daughter was born in Cortez and I lived for 6 years at Mesa Verde. I like that part of

the country.
No helicopter crews when I lived there years ago - we drove and then walked and had no water to waste on forest fires.

[bluedigger]

6. We don't have any water to waste on it, either.

But you do what you have to, right? Pretty severe drought.

“Whiskey is for drinkin’; water is for fightin’” is Western cliché, but it becomes more of a hard truth during a drought.

The Montezuma County sheriff’s office is reporting an increase in the number of disputes over irrigation water this spring and summer. Police scanners crackle with calls from irate landowners frustrated with neighbors taking more than their share from communal ditches.

As water supplies dwindle, there has been more theft and misuse of water, causing tempers to flare and raising the specter of violence.

“It is a lot of mitigation work, a lot of calls,” said Deputy Dave Huhn, a water law specialist handling irrigation issues for the sheriff’s office.

“The lack of water has escalated the tension and fright. People’s livelihood is dependent on water.”

http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20130624/NEWS01/130629940/-1/News01/As-water-dries-up-disputes-begin-to-boil-

[byeya]

8. The 24 year drought which ended at the beginning of the 14th century drove the cliff dwellers

down to the NM Rio Grande country and maybe some to the Hopi Mesas.

[bluedigger]

9. I think I read somewhere that this one has lasted just about as long.

Things aren't much better to the south this time...

[byeya]

10. That's really horrible then - good luck and I hope it rains soon(no lightning) August was the only

month we averaged more than 2 inches of precip.
I wish we could send you some of our rain - over 10 inches in the past 2 weeks and even more along the Blue Ridge where we used to live.
Drought - it's with you everyday and you can't do anything about it and there's no end in sight. A real shame.
Are you getting any pinto bean crops? I know Dove Creek was the dryland pinto bean capital of the world.

[bluedigger]

11. The ag producers are hurting for water.

I think they have about a third of what they need, but I don't know too much about it. I take it that it is a significant hit to the local economy.

I'm a new resident in the area, and when I heard there was a "monsoon" season I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm still not sure - I think the definition is a little different than what I learned about in school.

[byeya]

12. The "monsoon" are the thunderstorms in July and August of many years. You can watch the clouds form

at the top of Hesperus Peak and grow to the SW, S, and SE until the storm breaks around 4pm. This is what passes as the wet season where you live now.

[bluedigger]

14. Mostly we just get the noise here in town.

Maybe enough moisture to create interesting dust patterns on my Jeep.

[byeya]

15. And don't forget the world class dust devils to your SW, W and NW - very impressive

[bluedigger]

16. I watch those out my front window on my "lawn".

[byeya]

17. LOL!

[likesmountains 52]

5. Is it smoky over there? We have had a few bad days over here.

[bluedigger]

7. Not too bad - kind of hazy.

It's thicker looking in your direction, for sure.

Smoke hanging over Montezuma County reportedly is from the Papoose Fire, one of the three fires making up the West Fork Complex near Wolf Creek Pass.

The Durango Interagency Fire Dispatch Center said Thursday morning that the smoke could continue for several days as the fire enters an area of beetle-killed spruce and winds are predicted to continue to be from the north. Residents in Pagosa Springs are reporting ash from the fire.

As long as the area continues to receive dry lightning, aerial reconnaisance flights will occur daily in the morning and late afternoon, looking for new fire starts.

http://www.cortezjournal.com/article/20130704/NEWS01/130709909/-1/News01/Papoose-smoke-hangs-over-area-

(I need to talk to the Journal about getting a cut for driving traffic to their site. )

[Nevernose]

13. Already a 2k forest fire 15 miles from Vegas

It's going to be a brutal year all across the West