Trigo Fire
Encyclopedia
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...
in New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, United States of America that occurred during April and May 2008. It affected the communities of Manzano
Manzano, New Mexico
Manzano is a census-designated place in Torrance County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 54 at the 2000 census. The Quarai Ruins of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument are located near the town. The center of population of New Mexico is located in Manzano .Manzano is part of...
, Torreon
Torreon, Torrance County, New Mexico
Torreon is a farming community and census-designated place in Torrance County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 244 at the 2000 census...
and Tajique
Tajique, New Mexico
Tajique is a census-designated place in Torrance County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 148 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Tajique is located at ....
, burned 59 homes and over 21 square miles (54.4 km²). The fire was discovered the morning of 15 April 2008, approximately ten miles east of Belen
Belen, New Mexico
Belen is a city in Valencia County, New Mexico, United States. Belen is Spanish for Bethlehem, and over time has gained the nickname "Hub City" because of the Belen Cutoff of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The Cutoff made it possible for many more trains to travel east and west across...
, and had already burned some 200 acre (0.809372 km²) on the western slopes of the Manzano Mountains
Manzano Mountains
The Manzano Mountains are a small mountain range in the central part of the US State of New Mexico. They are oriented north-south and are about 40 miles long. The center of the range lies about 25 miles southeast of Albuquerque, and the northern foothills are just a few miles east of the edge of...
. The fire was 100% contained on 11 May 2008 and the last smoke sighted and extinguished was on 22 May. The US Forest Service said that the fire would not be completely out until snow blanketed the area in December.
Origin
Manzano Mountains
The Manzano Mountains are a small mountain range in the central part of the US State of New Mexico. They are oriented north-south and are about 40 miles long. The center of the range lies about 25 miles southeast of Albuquerque, and the northern foothills are just a few miles east of the edge of...
. Trigo is the Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
word for wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
which was once grown in the lower reaches of the canyon. There is a dirt road up into the canyon and fire investigators determined that there were individuals present in the canyon during the morning of the day the fire began. The fire is believed to have been caused by human negligence. On the morning of the 15th, turkey hunters were seen in the area where the fire started.
The very low relative humidity, high winds, and low fuel moisture coupled with the steep topography made containing the fire very difficult. For several days after the start of the fire the high winds prevented the use of aircraft in fighting the fire.
Economic effects
Ponderosa Pine
Pinus ponderosa, commonly known as the Ponderosa Pine, Bull Pine, Blackjack Pine, or Western Yellow Pine, is a widespread and variable pine native to western North America. It was first described by David Douglas in 1826, from eastern Washington near present-day Spokane...
, pinyon pine, juniper
Juniper
Junipers are coniferous plants in the genus Juniperus of the cypress family Cupressaceae. Depending on taxonomic viewpoint, there are between 50-67 species of juniper, widely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere, from the Arctic, south to tropical Africa in the Old World, and to the...
and gambel oak
Gambel oak
Quercus gambelii, or Gambel oak, is a deciduous small tree or large shrub widespread in the foothills and lower mountain elevations of the central southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico: its range is centered on the Colorado Plateau–Four Corners states of Utah-Colorado,...
in the Cibola National Forest
Cibola National Forest
The Cibola National Forest is a United States National Forest in western and central New Mexico, USA. The forest also manages four National Grasslands that stretch from northeastern New Mexico eastward into the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma. It is administered by the United States Forest...
. The total economic cost of the fire may not be finally determined for years, but initial estimates ranged from $50 to $100 million. The Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative alone lost “a total dollar figure of over $100,000 just in the miles of line alone”, not counting re-installation costs. There were 59 homes destroyed and 40 other structures, representing over $10 million in direct losses. The initial cost of fighting the fire was expected to be $11 million, with an equal amount in clean-up costs.
External links
- "Trigo Fire" InciWeb, Incident Information System, Southwest Area Incident Management Team, Southwest Coordination Center (SWCC), National Fire and Aviation Executive Board.
See also
- 1954 Water Canyon FireWater Canyon FireThe Water Canyon Fire of 1954 was a wildfire in the eastern edge of the Jemez Mountains and the Santa Fe National Forest which burned approximately 3,000 to 6,000 acres . The fire started on June 5, 1954 when the burning of trash and construction debris in upper Water Canyon got out of control...
- 1977 La Mesa FireLa Mesa FireThe La Mesa Fire was a wildfire on the Pajarito Plateau of New Mexico, USA, that was human-caused on the afternoon of June 16, 1977. Before it was contained one week later, the fire burned 15,444 acres of Bandelier National Monument and part of Los Alamos National Laboratory, where it reached...
- 1996 Dome FireDome FireThe Dome Fire was a destructive wildfire in the Jemez Mountains in the northern portion of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Devastating portions of the Santa Fe National Forest and Bandelier National Monument, the fire exploded on April 26, 1996, starting from an improperly extinguished campfire and...
- 1998 Oso Complex FireOso Complex FireThe Oso Complex Fire started June 20, 1998 and burned 5,185 acres in the Santa Fe National Forest in the Jemez Mountains, including more than 1,200 acres of Santa Clara Pueblo land. The fire came within 8 miles of Los Alamos, New Mexico and was contained by July 6, 1998, aided by rain...
- 2000 Cerro Grande FireCerro Grande FireThe Cerro Grande Fire was a disastrous forest fire in New Mexico, United States of America that occurred in May 2000. The fire started as a controlled burn, and became uncontrolled owing to high winds and drought conditions. Over 400 families in the town of Los Alamos, New Mexico lost their homes...
- List of forest fires