Cooks Peak Fire Update: Morning-5/6/22

Location: North of Ocate NM, approximately 46 miles north of Las Vegas, NM

A Type 3 Incident Management Team took command of the Cooks Peak fire at 5 p.m., Thursday 5 May 2022.  All Mora and Colfax County evacuations and the Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) over the Cooks Peak Fire were also lifted at 5 p.m.   New Mexico Highway 120 from mile marker 26 to 3 miles west of Ocate is now open.  State Road 21 from Polo Ranch to Cimarron is open to local traffic only and remains closed to through traffic. Visit https://nmroads.com/mapIndex.html for additional information.

Fire Update: Crews continued to monitor and patrol firelines and conduct suppression repair as needed.  A new start was located outside of the Cooks Peak TFR on Thursday but was quickly contained by initial attack and local fire crews.  Cooks Peak Fire showed minimal fire behavior on and progress continued in securing existing firelines and improving containment lines along the west side of the fire.

Mora County residents previously in the Cooks Peak Fire evacuation footprint may now be under Calf Canyon/Hermit’s Peak evacuation status. Mora county residents should refer to the Mora County sheriff https://www.facebook.com/moracountysheriffoffice and Calf Canyon/Hermit’s Peak Fire Information https://www.facebook.com/santafeNF for the most current evacuation status. 

The Mora and Colfax County Sheriff’s Offices are using the Ready! Set! Go! program for evacuation status that provides information on evacuation and evacuation preparation.

Fire Restrictions: The New Mexico State Forester has implemented statewide fire restrictions.  Smoking, fireworks, campfires, open burning and open fires are prohibited. For more information see  https://www.emnrd.nm.gov/sfd/forestry-news/  The Bureau of Land Management, Farmington District has also implemented fire restrictions.  Fireworks, campfires, smoking and operating machinery, including off road OHV use are restricted.  Visit https://www.blm.gov/programs/public-safety-and-fire/fire-and-aviation/regional-info/new-mexico/fire-restrictions for details.

More Information on fires in Colfax and Mora Counties:

Inciweb:  Cooks Peak:  https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8066/

Inciweb:  Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak:  https://inciweb.nwcg/incident/8069

New Mexico Fire information: https://nmfireinfo.com/

Smoke Outlook: https://outlooks.wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlook/b335b9f4

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CooksPeakFireInfo/

Evacuations: https://www.facebook.com/moracountysheriffoffice/

Colfax County:  http://www.co.colfax.nm.us/government/sheriff_s_department.php