Comanche Fire Update | June 22, 2023

June 22, 2023 by carsonnationalforest 0 Comments

Fire crews stand on a road in a pine forest with drip torches. A small fire is burning pine needs and duff on the ground. — Crews blackline along a forest road to add depth to a containment line.

Upcoming Actions: Fire crews will continue hand ignitions along the perimeter edge, continuing work from yesterday where the northwest and eastern perimeters were blacklined. These actions help create depth on the containment line to keep the fire within the focus area. A meteorologist and other specialists are assigned to the incident to directly advising incident command staff on weather and conditions.

The Carson National Forest is actively managing the naturally-ignited Comanche Fire to improve forest health, which is linked to water quality and quantity downstream. Learn more about the collaborative Rio Chama project at https://232partnership.org/rio-chama-cflrp.

Smoke: Smoke may be visible from Canjilon, Abiquiu, El Rito and as far as Santa Fe and Taos. It may impact the communities of Abiquiu, El Rito, Medenales, Hernandez and the Española Valley. Temporary smoke monitors have been placed at the Española Ranger Station, El Rito Ranger Station and at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu. Air quality data is available from the Fire and Smoke Map at fire.airnow.gov, where smoke can be tracked.

Community Open House: Drop in between 5 and 7 p.m. today (Thu., Jun. 22) at the El Rito Senior/Community Center at State Rd. 554, House #1115. Presentation at 6 p.m.

Closure: Temporary partial road closures are in effect on Forest Roads 137 and 20 during firing operations for safety of the public and fire crews.

Fast Facts

Size: 399 acres
Cause: Lightning
Fuels: Ponderosa pine and mixed conifer
Values at risk: Cultural/historical sites.

Percent Completed: 1%
Resources: 3 hand crews, 2 wildland fire modules, 6 engines, 1 dozer, 2 water tender, 2 REMS teams, total personnel 186

Keep updated with the Comanche Fire on InciWeb.