Gila National Forest ready for fire season

The Gila National Forest’s firefighting resources have completed their annual training requirements, passed readiness reviews and are ready to respond to wildfires. Resources include two interagency hotshot crews, four ten-person initial attack hand crews, nine wildland-fire engine crews, one Type 1 helicopter, one Type 3 helicopter and three unmanned aerial systems and pilot. Type 1 helicopters are larger helicopters with expanded capacity for personnel and firefighting resources while smaller, Type 3 helicopters can transport personnel quickly to incidents.

Firefighters will be supported by the Silver City Airtanker Base, Incident Support Cache and Interagency Dispatch Center. The Gila National Forest will order additional resources as needed to bolster staffing and response capacity, including a national rappel helicopter, wildland engines, hand crews and airtankers.

The National Interagency Fire Center’s predictive services indicates that above-normal fire potential will persist across the forest through June due to an ongoing long-term drought and widespread tree mortality.

The Gila National Forest is currently in Stage 1 Fire Restrictions. Campfires, stove fires and charcoal fires are allowed only in permanent fire structures at developed Forest Service sites. There are no fires allowed in dispersed camping areas. Smoking is allowed only within an enclosed vehicle or building, at a developed Forest Service recreation site or in an outdoor area that is devoid of all flammable material. Enjoy your public lands but know and follow the fire restrictions in effect for the area you are recreating in, and ensure campfires are out cold before leaving them.

The forest’s firefighting resources, in coordination with its interagency partners, are ready to quickly respond to wildfire threats within the 15-million-acre Gila/Las Cruces Dispatch Zone.

Stay informed about wildfire activity through the forest’s website and Facebook page, InciWeb or New Mexico Fire Information.

For more information, contact Gila National Forest Fire Staff Marcus Cornwell, marcus.cornwell@usda.gov.

About the Forest Service: The 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, and 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.