Global Courant
The U.S. Forest Service found in a new investigation that its own prescribed burn sparked a wildfire last April that nearly reached the town of Los Alamos, New Mexico.
The Cerro Pelado fire last spring ripped across more than 60 square miles and reached within a few miles of the area, forcing schools to close and prompting evacuation orders.
The wildfire was traced to a burning of forest debris commissioned by the agency, with the burn becoming a remnant fire and smoldering for months, according to Southwestern Regional Forester Michiko Martin.
“Our investigation has confirmed that the Cerro Pelado fire in the Jemez Ranger District of the Santa Fe National Forest was caused by a remnant fire from the Pino West Piles Prescribed Fire, a burn from a rubble pile. A remnant fire is a fire that smolders imperceptibly. Despite being covered in sleet, this remnant fire remained dormant for quite some time with no visible sign of smoke or heat,” he explained Monday. “This research adds to significant evidence of how severely the Santa Fe National Forest was degraded by environmental extremes caused by historic 2022 drought.”
“This fire has deeply affected our communities. Escaped prescribed fires in 2022 prompted the Forest Service to enact a 90-day national pause on prescribed fire and review required changes to the prescribed fire program,” Martin added, noting that the Santa Fe National Forest has made these changes.
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A Cochiti Fire Department vehicle drives toward a plume of smoke from the burning Cerro Pelado fire in the Jemez Mountains, April 29, 2022, in Cochiti, New Mexico. The U.S. Forest Service said on Monday, July 24, 2023, that its own prescribed burn was the cause of the 2022 wildfire that nearly burned down in Los Alamos, New Mexico. (Robert Browman/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)
He also said the Forest Service will conduct an internal evaluation of wildfires to learn how to conduct prescribed fires more safely and reduce the risk of them escaping, with firefighters in the Southwest region now using portable thermal devices and drones to detect the presence of heat.
An initial investigation into the origin of the fire was conducted by a wildfire investigator from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and pointed to an ash pit from the previously prescribed burn as the likely source — but failed to reach a definitive conclusion.
The news drew quick reactions from the state’s top politicians, including Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
“I am – again – outraged at the negligence of the US Forest Service that has caused this destruction. As climate change and extreme drought continue to ravage the Southwest, the Forest Service must abandon their usual approach to prescribed burns and forest management in our state,” she asserted. “I’m relieved to hear that the Forest Service will now use technology to prevent this from happening in the future. We will continue to hold the federal government accountable for each of the disastrous fires they caused in our state last summer.”
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks at a rally hosted by the Democratic Party of New Mexico at the Ted M. Gallegos Community Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Nov. 3, 2022. (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
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“Today’s news that another wildfire in NM has been started by US Forest Service is unacceptable. The Cerro Pelado fire put NMs at risk,” Senator Ben Ray Luján said on Facebook. “This was extremely reckless. There is technology to detect these accidents and USFS needs to do better to make sure this never happens again.”
Senator Martin Heinrich said he was “frustrated” by the findings.
“The warming climate is making our forests more vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires. That is a reality that our Forest Service can and must urgently respond to when deciding when and how to conduct prescribed burns. We cannot catch up to this reality if it takes nearly a year to even make the findings on the Cerro Pelado Fire public,” he said.
The Cerro Pelado fire, seen on May 6, 2022, from Cochiti, New Mexico, burns in the Jemez Mountains. (Robert Browman/The Albuquerque Journal via AP)
“As the Forest Service does the necessary work to update its modeling and use of prescribed fires, it must also prioritize restoring public confidence. This requires more transparency and much more united and authentic engagement with New Mexicans than the Forest Service has shown to date,” Heinrich wrote.
Last year, the Forest Service halted all prescribed fire operations for 90 days while it scrutinized procedures and policies.
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Forest Service Chief Randy Moore recently told lawmakers in New Mexico that agency managers cannot rely on past successes and must adapt to changing circumstances.
The federal government has already acknowledged that it started the largest wildfire in state history, burning more than 530 square miles.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News and Fox Business Digital.
Wildfire in New Mexico caused Forest Service-prescribed burn, agency says
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