近距离内射合集

The Frijoles Fire burning in the Pecos Wilderness northeast of Santa Fe is likely to remain a fixture in northern New Mexico for some time.

Firefighters digging trench line, heavy machinery operators moving earth and aircrews dropping fire retardant overhead made notable progress on the now 13,000-acre wildfire by Wednesday morning, raising containment from 9% to 31% since the weekend.

But at a public meeting Tuesday evening, fire officials who have been sobered by a long and dry fire season issued a clear warning: The fight to control the Frijoles Fire is far from over.

鈥淢oving forward, this fire is probably going to be on the landscape for a considerable period of time,鈥� said Lee Helgeson, a fire behavior analyst for California Complex Incident Management Team 8, which is overseeing the fire. 鈥淲e are near the end of the historic monsoon season. With that, we didn't get much rain from the monsoon. The weather is going to work against us in that case.鈥�

Containment efforts have so far focused mainly on the western and northwestern edges of the fire. That鈥檚 where several small villages 鈥� Rio Chiquito, Cordova, Cundiy贸, Chimay贸 and Truchas 鈥� lie within 4 to 7 miles of where the fire still burns.

So far, only Camino del Ca帽on, a street in Cundiy贸, has been evacuated. Santa Fe County continues to provide updates using the International Association of Fire Chiefs鈥� 

In recent days, westerly winds have driven the fire away from exposed communities, higher east into the Pecos Wilderness, where the Frijoles Fire was discovered on Aug. 4.

Due to the steep and rugged terrain on this eastern perimeter of the fire, the incident management team has relied heavily upon helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to rain fire retardant over the wilderness.

Forrest Gale, a Forest Service incident management trainee, said aircrews are avoiding waterways when dropping payloads of the reddish liquid, which is comprised of water combined with fertilizer salts.

Retired wildland firefighter Bobbie Scopa said fire retardant isn鈥檛 currently known to pose any long-term health consequences when distributed carefully outside of waterways.

鈥淓very firefighter has been painted pink multiple times in their career, sometimes multiple times in a summer,鈥� she said.

Scopa said Arizona, where she lives, has also seen below-average rainfall this monsoon season, but New Mexico has remained particularly dry in the Southwest region.

Meteorologists predicted this week that a weak cold front crossing into the state over the next several days is unlikely to bring much more precipitation to New Mexico, leaving firefighters to keep battling a blaze on a bone-dry landscape filled with forest fuels ready to burn.

鈥淪pecifically the footprint of the fire, there is no fire history,鈥� Helgeson said on Tuesday.

Heading into the weekend, the forecast calls for a greater chance of thunderstorms, which can bring moisture as well as powerful winds and lightning strikes that pose risks to firefighters and can keep aircraft grounded.

The Frijoles Fire itself is believed to have been caused by a lightning strike during a dry thunderstorm over the Pecos Wilderness on Aug. 4.

A day after the fire was reported, the Journal noted 15 lightning-caused wildfires across the state since late July after reviewing Forest Service reports.

The New Mexico Forestry Division last week said its own data indicate 50% of wildfires firefighters have responded to since July 1 have also been due to lightning 鈥� 97% more than the previous five-year average.

鈥淏etween July 1 and August 13, we鈥檝e responded to 219 wildfires, and 117 of those have been lightning-caused,鈥� Wildfire Prevention and Communications Manager George Ducker said. 鈥淥ur five-year average of lightning starts during this same period is 59. That鈥檚 nearly twice the amount of lightning starts.鈥�

Several audience questions at Tuesday鈥檚 meeting inside the Santa Fe Community Convention Center probed the speed of the response to the fire.

Incident Commander Mike Page said local fire teams dispatched a helicopter to begin dropping fire retardant on the wildfire鈥檚 origins high in the Pecos Wilderness early the morning of Aug. 5.

鈥淲e had two hotshot crews here, some engines, response from a couple different agencies,鈥� Page said. 鈥淪o during the initial attack of the incident, I think things actually went pretty well. The other part of that is getting additional resources.鈥�

Firefighters across the U.S. were working to contain 75 major wildfires as of Wednesday, with 26,890 personnel assigned to incidents nationwide, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. A total of 49,418 wildfires have burned more than 7.4 million acres across the country in 2026, 129% of the 10-year average.

The high number of wildfires in the U.S. this year has stretched firefighting resources to their limits.

Scopa said the manpower the Forest Service has dedicated to the fire has been significant relative to the Frijoles Fire鈥檚 size compared to many others that have burned in the West this year.

Total personnel on the fire had grown to 780 as of Wednesday, and the Forest Service has ordered additional vehicles and equipment to assist in surrounding the blaze鈥檚 more than 40-mile circumference.

鈥淭he majority of the work out there is hand-tool country only,鈥� Helgeson said. 鈥淲e can't get equipment in there. So when we're talking about digging line around this, we鈥檙e talking about digging line 43 miles. That鈥檚 a long ways. It鈥檚 going to take time.鈥�

John Miller is the Journal鈥檚 northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.