The largest wildfire in New Mexico history—which is still burning—was started by the U.S. Forest Service, federal investigators announced Friday.
The catastrophe began as two fires that merged into one. Both wildfires have now been conclusively traced to planned burns conducted by the Forest Service. Planned or “prescribed” burns are used to reduce the threat of extreme fires by reducing the amount of dry fuel in the forest.
So far, the New Mexico fire has destroyed 330 homes and scorched some 500 square miles. The cost of battling the blaze has surpassed $130 million, and rises another $5 million each day, according to the Associated Press.
The Hermits Peak Fire started on April 6. On April 19, the Calf Canyon Fire sprang from a reignited “burn pile” that had been dormant through three winter snow events. They merged on April 22, and their destructive march across the Land of Enchantment still hasn’t ended.
On May 13, New Mexico governor Michelle Lujan Grisham asked the federal government to cover 100% of the response and recovery costs. Following the Forest Service announcement, Grisham said:
“The pain and suffering of New Mexicans caused by the actions of the U.S. Forest Service—an agency that is intended to be a steward of our lands—is unfathomable. This is a first step toward the federal government taking full responsibility for the largest wildfire in state history.”
On May 20, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore announced, “I am initiating a pause on prescribed fire operations on National Forest System lands while we conduct a 90-day review of protocols, decision support tools and practices ahead of planned operations this this fall.”
In a typical year, the Forest Service conducts 4,500 prescribed burns. “In 99.84% of cases, prescribed fires go as planned,” said Moore.
As New Mexicans can attest, the other 0.16% can be a doozie. The 2000 Cerro Grande Fire in New Mexico also started as a prescribed burn. Before it was extinguished, it torched 48,000 acres, destroyed buildings at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, left hundreds of families homeless and caused about $1 billion in damage.
If the forests were allowed to be harvested, far fewer fires would be happening. I just learned that in CA there are between 600-1000 trees per acre in our forests, and a healthy forest has about 100 trees per acre. At that number, the trees die and become fuel for the monster fires our state suffers. The trees will go one way or another, but if they’re harvested, it provides jobs, timber, and saves countless homes and other structures. Fires also cause pollution, something the Left hollers about constantly. The Left is certifiably insane!
Well, that just makes too much sense. You don’t expect anyone in government – Left or Right – to understand something so sensible, do you? — Proper forest management is nothing new — been going on for well over a hundred years with logging companies doing most of the work to manage the forests properly. But government took over full control and now it’s all completely screwed up. Surprised? If you are surprised, something is really wrong with you.