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The Mestenas Canyon Fire is now fully surrounded by control lines. Crews on Wednesday cut handline on the fire’s northwest edge, increasing containment on the now 837-acre blaze to 65 percent.The fire’s north end remains the only uncontained area, however the control line is Forest Road 312N, which has been blacklined.

Crews on Tuesday completed significant work on the Mestenas Canyon Fire, which has grown to 716 acres with 40% containment. The fire’s heel on the south end is now completely contained.Meanwhile, the fire’s head continues to slowly progress north toward Forest Road 312, which crews prepared as a potential containment line. Low-hanging branches, known as ladder fuels, have been removed and blacklining, where fuels are burned ahead of the approaching fire, is completed up to 100 feet off the road.

Crews on Monday continued to build control lines and conducted more firing operations on the Mestenas Canyon Fire, which has grown to 628 acres with 30% containment.Containment was gained on the fire’s southern edge, and a ¾-mile stretch of Forest Road 312 was blacklined, which is when fire personnel burn fuels along a control line ahead of an approaching fire.

Crews continue to work the Mestenas Canyon Fire, which is slowly growing within completed and planned containment lines. The fire is currently estimated at 584 acres with 15% containment.On Sunday, crew members black lined along the northern segment of Forest Road 312N. Black lining is burning fuels along a control line ahead of the approaching fire. Meanwhile, crews dug handline and used natural features to gain containment on portions of the southern and eastern edges of the fire.Fire behavior has been minimal, and significant rain fell in the area early Sunday evening.

Rain tamped down much of the behavior on the Mestenas Canyon Fire, where the perimeter has grown to 477 acres with 15% containment.Steep terrain and outflow winds from nearby thunderstorms are driving the fire’s spread on its north and east sides. To contain the fire, crews are nearby using indirect methods by reducing fuels along the northern portion of Forest Road 312N before the fire front arrives. Flames have already reached the road’s south side, where crews previously worked. Containment lines are holding along that stretch of road.

Crews continue to work the Mestenas Canyon Fire, which has grown to 350 acres with 0% containment. Outflow winds from nearby storms pushed two heads of the fire up canyon slopes onto Mestenas Mesa where crews are securing roads as potential containment lines.The overall suppression strategy is to contain the fire using existing roads and natural features.

Carson National Forest fire crews are on scene of the Mestenas Canyon Fire, named after the canyon its burning deep within. It’s about 10 miles southwest of Dulce, N.M., on the Jicarilla Ranger District and two miles north of Highway 64.