
Shifting winds blew the smoke plume from the Trout Fire over central Grant County on Sunday night, prompting air quality warnings from officials and the cancellation of summer lunch program meals Monday in Bayard.
By The Daily Press Staff
Evacuations as a result of the Trout Fire in the Gila National Forest spread over the weekend, with electricity service shut off to much of the Mimbres Valley in an attempt to aid firefighters. The fire, which was sparked early Thursday morning near the Sheep Corral area off of N.M. 15, has so far burned more than 18,000 acres.
As of Sunday afternoon, the upper Mimbres Valley had been added to the areas placed under “go” mode, with county officials recommending evacuation after electricity service to the area was shut off for the safety of firefighter crews battling the Trout Fire. The Public Service Company of New Mexico cut power to all customers along N.M. 35 and N.M. 15 from the Wilderness Ranger Station in the upper Mimbres Valley to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, according to the Grant County Office of Emergency Management.
Power is expected to be off until June 20 at 4 p.m., the utility company said. About 420 customers are affected by the outage.
“[The restoration date for electric service] should be taken by customers as very tentative,” said Jeff Buell, a PNM spokesman. “It’s subject to continued change as the conditions develop.”
Grant County Emergency Management Director Scot Fuller explained that firefighters were doing a lot of backfiring, and that the fire was now on top of power infrastructure, so the U.S. Forest Service had requested that the power be shut off for the safety of their crews.
N.M. 35 is under a hard closure, meaning that no civilian traffic will be allowed on the road, and residents who leave will not be allowed to return, according to Fuller. He added that rumors of the fire jumping N.M. 35 were untrue.
“They’re trying to keep it from crossing Highway 35, so we got a lot of crews working out there in that area,” said Stefan La-Sky, public information officer for the Trout Fire.
The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning on Monday morning, which is in effect today from noon to 8 p.m.
“A passing upper- level trough will result in breezy winds from the west on Tuesday across southern New Mexico. 20-foot winds near 20 mph are expected Tuesday afternoon with gusts to 30 to 35 mph,” the NWS warning reads. “Although the winds are near critical thresholds, fuels are critically dry across the area and relative humidity will be near 5 percent. These factors combined with the ongoing wildfires in the Gila Region will result in near-critical fire weather conditions.”
The Trout Fire has burned 18,278 acres so far, according to a Southwest Area Incident Management Team report issued Monday morning. The fire remains at zero percent containment, and the cause is still under investigation.
“We did see significant growth over the weekend, especially along the west, north and east flanks,” La-Sky said. “We’re really trying to keep it from heading south, because there’s large populated areas down there.”
Grant County commissioners declared a local emergency due to the Trout Fire during an emergency meeting held Monday morning.
A Trout Fire community meeting was held Monday evening at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center. The meeting was livestreamed on Facebook through the Gila National Forest page, and is now available on that page as a recording, according to La-Sky.
The Sapillo Volunteer Fire Department and the Upper Mimbres Volunteer Fire Department’s Thunderbird Station have backup generators available if residents need electricity to charge devices, according to the county emergency management office.
Fuller said there has been no evacuation recommended for Pinos Altos, contrary to rumors that the fire department is checking homes to see if they are clear and spray-painting cleared homes. A similar rumor about the Hanover area — also untrue — spread on Monday.
“Spreading rumors and falsehoods only complicates matters, and takes away from the primary focus of the mission of keeping people safe,” Fuller wrote in an email to the Daily Press. “Correct and accurate information will be posted on the county’s official Facebook page and the county’s website on the emergency banner.”
An interactive map for Trout Fire evacuation zones is available at nifc.maps.arcgis.com.
More than 625 firefighters are now assigned to the fire, with the Southwest Area Complex Incident Management Team taking over command of firefighting efforts at 6 a.m. Saturday, following a briefing Friday evening from the Gila Las Cruces Type 3 Incident Command Team.
“This is a 24-hour fire, meaning we do have day crews and night crews,” La-Sky said. “Throughout the weekend, the humidity was not recovering well at all at night, so we saw active fire growth even at night.”
La-Sky explained that typically at night, the humidity increases and the fire dies down, and Sunday night’s humidity was around 30 percent, allowing crews to make progress.
The Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center at 3031 U.S. 180 E. in Silver City is an emergency evacuation center, with representatives of the Red Cross on-site. Dogs and cats can be taken to the High Desert Humane Society, 3050 Cougar Way in Silver City, while the Southwest Horseman’s Arena is open for livestock.
In Catron County, the Buck Fire, which is mainly burning in grassland, grew to 35,190 acres as of Monday. According to a report from InciWeb, the Continental Divide Trail has issued a soft closure and the public is advised to avoid N.M. 163 within the fire area.