Forest Fires are Alive

Calf Canyon/Kermits Peak Breathing

 

I am home now. That does not mean the fire which chased me away is out. There are times I think I can hear it breathe. I know where it lives. Where it sleeps when the winds are still. I watch the horizons in the morning as the winds begin to pick up. Every white puff in the sky gets queried. Are you a cloud? Or smoke.

Forest fires lie down at night but they are alive in the pine needles covering the forest floor. Alive in the huge log emerging from the melting snow. And alive in the roots of the burned spar above the snow. All it takes is wind to bring them out of hiding and wake up the fire. We have had a quiet few days but the Fire Weather begins again today.

A forest fire is not like a house fire on your street. It cannot be drowned out with a pumper full of water. It isn't easily surrounded and watched. The perimeter of the Calf Canyon and Kermits Peak Fire is 600 miles. It covers portions of five counties. It has compromised several state roads including Hwy 518 and 434, where I live, and US 120 which has to be traveled by my mail carrier. The crews are doing everything they can to prevent it closing US 64 to Taos.

A total of 311,148 acres has been burned. The black line around the red marks where the fire is deemed contained. The red lines are the fire. My home is that blue star below Angel Fire. And the green lines to the left mark the "go no further than here" boundaries. Believe it or not there is another set of hoped for boundaries even further out if it breaks through those. The boundaries are based on the fire crew's knowledge of fire behavior and hope. They are working on containment lines closer in. Wise to note half of Angel Fire is within that first boundary. And US 64. That canyon has scared those of us who drive it to shop in Taos for more than a decade.


They would like to hold the fire to just exactly where it is this minute. But the .01 inch of rain most of the fire received did not put it out. But the moisture in the air and the lack of fire winds gave everyone some breathing space and time to work on the dozer lines to hold the fire if it breaks where it is today when the fire weather begins again.

Yes, I am safe for now or I would not have been allowed back into my home. But the fire is not out and lots of other homes are still at risk. And lots of beautiful land which has been neglected and abused by people on ATV's without spark arrestors. The mission of this combined Fire Management Crew is not merely to put this fire out but to fix the land so the next spark does not start an even bigger fire. And to be sure it is out this time. Really out.

Note: In the course of this fire five spot fires were started on US 64 by a vehicle.

The Endangered Sangre de Cristo Forest Lands



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