The Cerro Pelado Fire continues to burn vigorously in the Jemez Mountains south of the Valles Caldera National Preserve. The fire started just to the south of the Cerro Los Pinos subdivision on Forest Road 10. A week ago, we feared it might burn into the Valles Caldera, but it has since moved east and south, boxed in by heavily burned land from the 2011 Las Conchas Fire. The fire doubled in size on Friday to more than 15,600 acres (about the size of the 1977 La Mesa Fire.)
Currently the Cerro Pelado Fire is moving toward Tent Rocks National Monument and Cochiti Pueblo to the east and south. It has burned into the Bland Canyon area which is south of the Dome Wilderness and Bandelier National Monument. There are homes in this area but the old mining town of Bland burned in the Las Conchas Fire. Looking from Santa Fe, the flame front appears to be low on the flanks of the Jemez Mountains now.
It is difficult to get quality updates on the fire, but you can follow progress here.
Another fire started late in the week in Freelove Canyon which crosses the VCNP boundary on the west side of the Preserve. This fire is apparently within the scar of the 2013 Thompson Ridge Fire. Another fire started in this same area on Friday, but it was immediately extinguished by firefighting aircraft according to our sources.
The Valles Caldera NP is closed. The managers say they have closed it to keep traffic off State Road 4 to assist fire traffic.
These fires are unusually active for this time of year. The Cerro Grande Fire of 2000 that burned 58,000 acres and multiple residences in Los Alamos was declared a wildfire on May 7. Many people consider Cerro Grande to be the first climate change driven fire in the Jemez Mountains. Before the nearby 1996 Dome Fire, relatively little of the mixed conifer high country had burned in any sizeable patch in the Jemez for many decades. Now we have high severity fire transforming the vegetation in the Jemez High country permanently.
Though the Cerro Pelado Fire is producing a large amount of smoke and tying up almost 400 people and various hardware including aircraft. The Calf Canyon Fire on the east side of the Sangre de Cristo near Mora is six times bigger than the Cerro Pelado and has burned multiple structures. Prevailing winds have mostly kept that fire out of the high country.
Original Post on Cerro Pelado Fire (April 23, 2022)
The US Forest Service reported a new fire in the Jemez on Friday afternoon. The Cerro Pelado Fire is burning near Forest Road 10 and Highway 4. This fire is burning in an area with many homes built in ponderosa pine forest (Sierra de los Pinos subdivision) and it is on the south boundary of the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
The Valles Caldera NP is closed due to the fire and the ongoing winds caused by a cold front passing through our area. The winds won’t diminish substantially until Sunday and Monday. Winds will push the fire to the west and north but could shift to the north on Sunday which could push the fire into the Preserve.
With low humidity, dry fuels caused by low snowfall this winter, and relentless wind, this is a dangerous fire situation. The Forest Service has its firefighting resources stretched thin already with the 31,000-acre Calf Canyon Fire near Mora, NM, the Cooks Peak Fires and the Hermit’s Peak Fire in that same area. Meanwhile at least three new fires are burning in southern New Mexico.
The good news is that both the National Park Service and the US Forest Service have invested years of work in reducing fuels in the new fire area in the Jemez. A wide swath of mixed conifer and ponderosa pine forest has been thinned and treated with prescribed fire over the last decade. This work, funded with a direct Congressional grant, is designed to calm fire behavior, and increase the likelihood trees will survive a fire at times like this.
If the fire does enter the Valles Caldera, it will also burn into the 2013 Thompson Peak Fire scar which should slow its advance.
Our thoughts go out to the people who own homes in the Cerro Pelado Fire region.
