Dog Head Fire June 19th 9:30pm Update

Minimal Fire Behavior Expected Tonight

DOG HEAD FIRE UPDATE – 6/19/2016, 9:30 PM.

Acres: 17,891                                                 Containment: 9%

Cause: Under Investigation                            Start Date:  June 14, 2016

Jurisdiction:  Cibola National Forest, NM State Forestry, Southern Pueblo Agency/BIA, BLM

Location:  6 miles NW of Tajique, NM

Vegetation:  Heavy fuels, dead and down timber, ponderosa pine stands

Damage Assessment: 24 single residences and 21 other minor structures

Total Personnel:  923

COMMUNITY MEETING MONDAY

East Torrance County Water Conservation District, 

 715 S. Main Street, Estancia, NM at 7:00 p.m.

This morning Southwest Type I Incident Command Team #1, led by Incident Commander Bea Day, assumed command of the fire at 6:00 am.

Today, on the west side of the fire, firefighters continued to hold and patrol the well-established handline where crews had dug down to bare mineral soil, creating a break in continuous fuel to help stop the fire’s spread. On the east side of the fire, firefighters continue to go direct as much as possible, where they can do so safely. They will continue to establish dozer and handline to keep the fire’s movement in check.  No air tankers were utilized on the fire today, helicopters continued to drop retardant and water

Fire behavior was at a minimum today and weather forecast calls for a slight rise in relative humidity, but not much recovery overnight.

Tonight crews will continue to strengthen fireline and hope to complete the line just north west of County Road A053.

The strategy for this fire is continued full suppression. Current incident objectives including providing for the safety of incident responders and the public through the application and implementation of sound risk management analysis, efficiently suppressing the fire using a full range of suppression tactics, and protecting values at risk from adverse fire and incident management actions.

Smoke sensitive individuals and people with respiratory problems are encouraged to take precautionary measures.  Information on air quality and protecting your health can be found online at the New Mexico Department of Health website at https://nmtracking.org/fire.

Additional fire information, maps, and photos are available on: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov, http://nmfireinfo.com, http://facebook.com/dogheadfire/, and http://twitter.com/dogheadfireinfo.