Single Publication

Cerro Pelado Fire Daily Update

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

WEATHER AND FIRE BEHAVIOR: Today moderate westerly and terrain driven winds are expected, and temperatures over the fire area will rise to around 80°F. Relative humidity will drop into the single digits again in the afternoon, and the probability of ignition will be very high, similar to the past few days. It’s been 47 days since any measurable rain, and fuels at all elevations are incredibly dry and unstable across the region. Increasing southwest winds will cause worsening fire weather conditions later in the week. Yesterday the fire did not grow, and it stayed within containment lines. There are pockets of heat within the fire perimeter, where fire activity is limited to smoldering and creeping through ground fuels, and occasionally a single tree will torch far inside containment lines. The fire is almost entirely surrounded by direct containment lines, so minimal fire activity is expected again today.

FIRE OPERATIONS: The north side of the fire is the most active, and today crews are planning to create containment line directly on the fire edge near the communications towers on Los Griegos Mountain. Crews will reinforce contingency line they have been constructing along Forest Road (FR) 271. Engine and hand crews will also be looking to reinforce containment lines along FR 280 and in the upper Peralta Canyon area where backing fire continues to slowly progress down the hill to the north. Crews may perform limited tactical firing operations to burn out areas of fuel and reinforce the containment lines in this area. Although diminishing every day, pockets of smoldering fire continue to produce smoke inside of containment lines in forested areas that were not burned in previous fires. Helicopters and the two scooper planes will continue to support crews on the ground as needed. Engine crews continue to patrol burned areas near structures in the upper Peralta Canyon Area, but they have not found much heat for several days. Saw teams and heavy equipment crews continue to clear hazard trees, perform fuels reduction, and chip up large brush piles along Highway 4, which is still being used heavily by firefighting traffic.

Fire activity remains quiet on the other sides of the fire, with very little smoke visible anywhere throughout the day. Firefighters continue to patrol containment lines around the fire searching for wisps of smoke and hidden areas of smoldering heat. On contained lines across the fire, crews are rolling up hoses, chipping up large piles of slash, and backhauling suppression equipment that is no longer needed. Today, hand crews on foot are patrolling the remote fire edge on Cochiti Mesa and the lower Paralta Canyon areas north of Cochiti Pueblo, where they are searching for and extinguishing small pockets of heat. On the western side of the fire, crews continue to patrol and monitor containment lines along the Bear Springs Road (FR 266), and they are working further inward from the fire edge using hand tools and water to mop up areas of heat in the Hondo Canyon Area.

CLOSURES:

Highway 4 closed from mile marker 34 to mile marker 50: https://bit.ly/NM-Roads The Santa Fe National Forest has closed the Cerro Pelado Fire Area (closure order) and Fire Base Camp along Forest Road 376 (closure order).
Bandelier National Monument and Valles Caldera National Preserve remains closed.

For more closure information, go to the Santa Fe National Forest Website at

https://bit.ly/SantaFeNF- Closures

Great Basin Incident Management Team 1

Information Phone Line:

505-312-4593

Email:

2022.CerroPelado@firenet.gov

InciWeb:

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8075/

Facebook: https:/facebook.com/2022.Cerropeladofire Twitter: https:/twitter.com/SantafeNF

The Great Basin IMT 1 continues to communicate with tribal representatives, community leaders, private cooperators, and Los Alamos National Laboratory staff to coordinate firefighting resources, protect structures, and keep community members safe.

Air Quality: Information on air quality is at New Mexico Department of Health Environmental Public Health Tracking: https://nmtracking.org/fire , and an interactive smoke map is available at https://fire.airnow.gov/.

Fire Restrictions Stage II Fire Restrictions are in effect for the Santa Fe National Forest, which prohibits all campfires and other hazardous activities. Due to ongoing fire threats, Sandoval County will not issue burn permits. Stage III Fire Restrictions are in effect for Cochiti Pueblo.

Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR). There is a flight restriction over the fire area and drones are also prohibited. https://bit.ly/Flight- Restrictions

INCIDENT STATISTICS: CurrentSize:45,605 Acres Current Containment: 71% Start Date: April 22, 2022 Cause: Unknown

Total personnel: 936