Frijoles Fire grows to roughly 14,000 acres, creates smoke concerns

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The state health and environment departments on Wednesday issued a smoke advisory, and announced two additional air monitors at the Nambe Community Center and the Harold L. Runnels Building, along with a third planned for Mora to measure the fine particulate matter associated with wildfire smoke.

In a statement, Dr. Chelsea Langer, NMDOH bureau chief of the environmental health epidemiology bureau, said given the decreasing air quality in the area of the fire, officials were encouraging residents “to stay indoors and set up a clean room, which is a place designed to keep inside air as clean as possible. To keep indoor air clean, limit how much outdoor air is coming inside, and keep air that is already inside clean by not burning candles or incense, not using air fresheners or other strong scented products, and not smoking or vaping indoors.”

Residents can also monitor the Air Quality Index, in which higher numbers indicate more pollution and health risks, online at fire.airnow.gov. As of Thursday morning, monitors showed unhealthy air quality throughout Santa Fe.

“We have been proactively working with government partners to ensure communities have the most up-to-date information available through our monitoring system,” New Mexico Environment Department Air Quality Bureau Chief Cindy Hollenberg said in a  statement. “Fine particulate matter from wildfire smoke can contribute to respiratory issues and other health impacts with higher risk community members, which is why we want to provide as much data as possible.”

Fire officials say they have 866 personnel on the fire, with “steep, rugged terrain in the wilderness” continuing to “challenge firefighters’ ability to safely access remote areas and use direct extinguishment strategies along the fire’s edge.”

While evacuation orders are limited to an area of the small village of Cundiyó, residents in the rest of Cundiyó, as well as Cerro Piñon and Borrego Mesa area, remain in “set” status, meaning they should keep tabs on emergency alerts and create a plan to safely flee the wildfire. 

Internal situation reports that the California incident command team in charge of the fire show that 11 people have evacuated due to the fire, and three others are sheltering in place. 

The reports also show that no structures have yet been burned in the fire. However, they identified more than 100 structures at risk at the nearby Gorham Boy Scout Ranch, Canyon Chimayó and the rest of Cundiyó. 

In addition, more than 1,000 structures in Truchas, which is nine miles north of the wildfire’s northern edge, are at risk, the reports show. 

The report, known as an ICS-209 report, which Source NM reviewed Thursday, also describes staffing and other challenges firefighters face as they seek to build containment lines and allow residents to return home. 

The report says “steep terrain and poor access” are increasing time required to complete containment lines. In addition, “limited crews qualified to work in these areas” are slowing progress, as the most-specialized teams, known as Type 1 crews, are regularly being shifted between areas of the fire to try to contain the fire in difficult terrain. 

“This, in turn, is preventing cohesive line construction that can gain containment and shorten the duration of public displacement from their homes,” an incident commander wrote Wednesday afternoon. 

In addition, the team’s window for weather conditions favorable for tackling the blaze is “narrowing as a return to unseasonably high temperatures and record-low relative humidities is expected to affect the area and drastically increase fire behavior,” the commander wrote. 

The ongoing fire behavior, as well as prolonged smoke exposure and forest closures, are “significantly reducing” economic activity in the area, including fairs, festivals, camping and “once-in-a-lifetime” draw hunts for bighorn sheep in the Pecos Wilderness, the commander wrote.