Borrego Campground prescribed fire planned this week

Favorable weather conditions in place for hazardous fuels reduction work

The Santa Fe National Forest is planning prescribed fire operations in the Española Ranger District on Tuesday October 21, 2025, pending all required approvals. The Borrego Campground prescribed fire is a 399-acre jackpot burn, meaning fire crews will burn concentrations (jackpots) of fuels only under specified environmental conditions. This method confines fire to a predetermined area and produces the fireline intensity and rate of spread needed to attain resource management objectives. These concentrations can be natural or result from thinning projects.

Ignitions are planned for three days to minimize smoke impacts. Smoke will be visible from the communities of Cordova, Chimayo, Cundiyo, and Truchas. Residents may experience smoke during the prescribed burn. For more detailed information about air quality, go to AirNow online or download the app. When driving, slow down and turn on your headlights when you encounter smoke on the road.

We use prescribed fire to help reduce overgrown vegetation to help protect local communities, infrastructure and natural resources from wildfires. This burn will be implemented collaboratively with help from the City of Santa Fe Fire Department, the New Mexico Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resource Department (EMNRD), and the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC).

We will evaluate weather conditions in the hours before a burn begins. If conditions warrant, scheduled prescribed fire activities may be canceled. After ignitions are complete fire crews will shift their focus to patrolling and monitoring the burn.

Stay informed about scheduled prescribed fires through the forest website, the SFNF prescribed fire page, social media channels (Facebook and X), and InciWeb, the interagency incident information system. We will notify county emergency management officials when burning begins. 

About the Forest Service: The USDA Forest Service has for more than 100 years brought people and communities together to answer the call of conservation. Grounded in world-class science and technology– and rooted in communities–the Forest Service connects people to nature and to each other. The Forest Service cares for shared natural resources in ways that promote lasting economic, ecological, and social vitality. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, maintains the largest wildland fire and forestry research organizations in the world. The Forest Service also has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 900 million forested acres within the U.S., of which over 130 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.

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