Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire Update, May 21, 2022, 12:00 PM MDT
The fire is estimated at 308,971 acres and is 40% contained with 2707 personnel assigned.
There is not a Red Flag Warning today. Great news for all firefighters and communities.
Increased moisture from the north and lower winds, with minimum humidity falling to around 25 percent today. A cold front sweeping in from the northeast tonight is expected to bring a surge of east to northeast winds.
The fire has been divided into three zones: East, West, and South. For descriptions of zones, please see earlier updates. Team 2, which Philmont is hosting, is in command of the East Zone of the fire. This zone roughly encompasses the affected area of Colfax and Mora Counties east of the 434 corridor south to the San Miguel County Line. Our updates will focus primarily on the East and West Zones.
The East Zone continued structure prep yesterday and continued work on defensible spaces in Black Lake and surrounding communities.
Firefighters were also working on contingency line east of the fire near Philmont’s property line with strong support from Philmont personnel. Along the Taos/Colfax County Line dozers and hand crews began building contingency line working north towards Angel Fire. Today’s cooler weather and less winds will prioritize strengthening fire line at the northern tip of the fire.
The West Zone will capitalize on favorable weather to reinforce direct line around a spot fire that developed yesterday south of NM Highway 518 near Comales Canyon. Contingency line construction will begin east of communities near Penasco today.
Philmont continues to host incident Management Team 2 (East Zone).
The Philmont management team continues to work closely with the East and West Zone Incident Management Teams.
We are grateful for all those involved in fighting the fire and keeping Philmont and our surrounding communities safe.
Philmont is preparing for summer operations as scheduled and currently onboarding seasonal staff. An update for summer operations was released yesterday and can be found on our website and social media channels.
To view an updated map of the current incident visit:
To donate to the Fire Recovery and Mitigation Fund click below. 100% of your donation will go to Philmont:
During this time of financial restructuring, we are not permitted to accept donations from the following states: California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands or Wisconsin.
Additional information can be found at:
Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire Update, May 20, 2022, 12:00 PM MDT
The fire is estimated at 303,701 acres and is 40% contained with 2408 personnel assigned.
Due to the inability to get an infrared flight overnight, there will not be an update on acreage until later today, please use the links listed below for acreage updates as the day progresses.
A Red Flag Warning today with winds from West and Southwest gusting 45-50 mph on the ridges and 40-45 mph in the valleys. Cold front will push in tonight from the north.
The fire has been divided into three zones: East, West, and South. For descriptions of zones, please see yesterday’s update. Team 2 is in command of the East Zone of the fire. This zone roughly encompasses the affected area of Colfax and Mora Counties east of the 434 corridor south to the San Miguel County Line. Our updates will focus primarily on the East and West Zones.
The East Zone continued direct line construction to create fire break utilizing dozers and hand crews including the northern tip of the fire and completing a line to the Luna burn scar. Structure protection continues.
The West Zone had fire activity in the northwest corner contributed by the red flag conditions. Firefighters will continue to contain spot fires today and continued structure protection throughout the zone.
Philmont continues to host incident Management Team 2 (East Zone).
The Philmont management team continues to work closely with the East and West Zone Incident Management Teams.
We are grateful for all those involved in fighting the fire and keeping Philmont and our surrounding communities safe.
Philmont is preparing for summer operations as scheduled and currently onboarding seasonal staff.
To view an updated map of the current incident visit:
To donate to the Fire Recovery and Mitigation Fund click below. 100% of your donation will go to Philmont:
During this time of financial restructuring, we are not permitted to accept donations from the following states: California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands or Wisconsin.
Additional information can be found at:
Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire Update, May 19, 2022, 12:00 PM MDT
The fire is estimated at 303,341 acres and is 34% contained with 2169 personnel assigned split into three zones.
A Red Flag Warning is in effect today 12:00 pm through 10 pm. Today is hot, dry, and windy with gusts of 35-40 mph from the west.
The fire has been divided into three zones: East, West, and South. Team 1, in previous updates referred to as Central Zone, includes Taos County, and Mora County west of NM Highway 434 corridor to the San Miguel County Line. Team 2 has now taken command of the East Zone of the fire. This zone roughly encompasses the affected area of Colfax and Mora Counties east of the 434 corridor south to the San Miguel County Line. Team 3 is in command of the South Zone, which consists of the area within San Miguel County. Our updates will focus on the East and West Zones.
The East Zone constructed containment lines and continued structure protection and ground and air resources focused on reinforcing containment lines near Guadalupita yesterday.
The West Zone had 6 scoopers, 7 helicopters and multiple airtankers all engaged yesterday. Today’s challenge will be to keep the fire west of NM Highway 518 during the red flag conditions.
Philmont continues to host incident Management Team 2 (East Zone).
The Philmont management team continues to work closely with the East and West Zone Incident Management Teams.
We are grateful for all those involved in fighting the fire and keeping Philmont and our surrounding communities safe.
Philmont is preparing for summer operations as scheduled and currently onboarding seasonal staff.
To view an updated map of the current incident visit:
To donate to the Fire Recovery and Mitigation Fund click below. 100% of your donation will go to Philmont:
During this time of financial restructuring, we are not permitted to accept donations from the following states: California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands or Wisconsin.
Additional information can be found at:
Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire Update, May 18, 2022, 12:00 PM MDT
The fire is estimated at 301,971 acres and is 34% contained with 1958 personnel assigned.
A cold front moved in last night with some low-level moisture resulting in good humidity recovery overnight. Winds SSE gusts to 25mph today at the lower elevations. Thunderstorms could develop later this afternoon which could result in gusty erratic winds and potential for dry lightning. Red Flag warning anticipated for tomorrow.
The fire has been divided into three zones: East, West, and South. Team 1, in previous updates referred to as Central Zone, includes Taos County, and Mora County west of NM Highway 434 corridor to the San Miguel County Line. Team 2 has now taken command of the East Zone of the fire. This zone roughly encompasses the affected area of Colfax and Mora Counties east of the 434 corridor south to the San Miguel County Line. Team 3 is in command of the South Zone, which consists of the are within San Miguel County. Our updates will focus on the East and West Zones.
Yesterday the East Zone firefighters made significant progress on the north and northeast portions of the fire, adding additional containment line. They will continue to connect existing fireline north of the Luna Fire burn scar and then continue towards Angel Fire. This team will also continue additional planning further out from the fire’s edge especially ahead of the forecasted winds later in the week. Philmont continues to host this Incident Management Team (California Incident Management Team 2).
The West Zone continues to work on containment lines and work on spotting that occurred yesterday.
The Philmont management team continues to work closely with the East and West Zone Incident Management Teams.
We are grateful for all those involved in fighting the fire and keeping Philmont and our surrounding communities safe.
Philmont is preparing for summer operations as scheduled and currently onboarding seasonal staff.
Additional information can be found at:
To donate to the Fire Recovery and Mitigation Fund click below. 100% of your donation will go to Philmont:
During this time of financial restructuring, we are not permitted to accept donations from the following states: California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands or Wisconsin.
Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire Update, May 17, 2022, 12:00 PM MDT
The fire is estimated at 299,565 acres and is 26% contained with 2094 personnel assigned.
The southern part of fire received thunderstorm activity last night. The northern portion received gusty winds and a few lightning strikes but much of the activity moved around the fire. This did help with humidity recovery overnight.
Today we have returned to critical fire conditions with winds west to northwest on the ridges at 14-22 mph with gusts of 28 mph.
The Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire was divided into zones. Everything in San Miguel County (plus Upper Rociada) is part of the South Zone. Most areas in Mora, Colfax and Taos Counties are in the Central Zone. Our updates will focus on the Central Zone and the North planning zone.
The Central Zone continues with structure protection in Black Lake and southern areas of Angel Fire. The Philmont Volunteer Fire Department is still deployed. The fire continues to hold on Highway 434.
The North Zone was able to validate strategic values at risk and work with adjoining forces to be prepared for any future fire activity. The North Zone will continue additional planning further out from the fire’s edge, especially ahead of the forecasted winds later in the week. Philmont continues to host this North Zone team.
The Philmont management team continues to work closely with the Central Zone and North Zone Incident Management Teams.
We are grateful for all those involved in fighting the fire and keeping Philmont and our surrounding communities safe.
Philmont is preparing for summer operations as scheduled and currently onboarding seasonal staff.
Additional information can be found at:
To donate to the Fire Recovery and Mitigation Fund click below. 100% of your donation will go to Philmont:
During this time of financial restructuring, we are not permitted to accept donations from the following states: California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands or Wisconsin.
Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire Update, May 16, 2022, 1:00 PM MDT
The fire is estimated at 298,060 acres and is 27% contained with 2015 personnel assigned.
The Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire was divided into zones. Everything in San Miguel County (plus Upper Rociada) is part of the South Zone. Most areas in Mora, Colfax and Taos Counties are in the Central Zone. Our updates will focus on the Central Zone.
The Central Zone continues with structure protection in Black Lake and southern areas of Angel Fire. The Philmont Volunteer Fire Department is still deployed. The fire continues to hold on Highway 434. There was some growth yesterday on the west side of the Central Zone.
Excellent humidity recovery overnight. A thunderstorm warning is in effect for this afternoon. Erratic wind gusts of 50 plus mph are expected and a potential for dry lightning today. There are plans in place to cover both current fire activity and the potential for new lightning-caused fires.
Philmont continues to host Team 2 (type 1) who is pro-actively pre-planning for possible situations that may arise from weather and fire conditions and identifying values at risk across all zones.
The Philmont management team continues to work closely with the Central Zone Incident Management Team.
The Type 3 team on the Cooks Peak Fire, that Philmont has hosted for 21 days, is transitioning to a Type 4 team today that we will continue to host.
We are grateful for all those involved in fighting the fire and keeping Philmont and our surrounding communities safe.
Philmont is preparing for summer operations as scheduled and currently onboarding seasonal staff.
Additional information can be found at:
To donate to the Fire Recovery and Mitigation Fund click below. 100% of your donation will go to Philmont:
During this time of financial restructuring, we are not permitted to accept donations from the following states: California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands or Wisconsin.
Hermits Peak and Calf Canyon Fire Update, May 15, 2022, 3:30 PM MDT
The fire is estimated at 288,942 acres and is 27% contained with 1930 personnel assigned.
No Red Flag Warning Today. Low relative humidity.
The transition to the Type 1 team 1 has taken place and the Incident Command team is based out of Taos. Philmont is hosting type 1 team 2 that continues to work strategy ahead of the fire.
The Philmont Volunteer fire department, which is comprised of Philmont full-time staff, currently has 3 engines deployed to Black Lake.
Philmont Scout Ranch, the CS Ranch, and the UU Bar continue collaboration with the new team. In yesterday’s update we noted that in collaboration with state and federal agencies they put in 9 miles of dozer lines for a fuel break on the north side of the fire from Cooks Peak burn scar to Highway 120. A team of 10 Philmont sawyers reduced heavy fuel loads along this corridor.
The Philmont management team continues to work closely with the new Incident Management Team.
Philmont continues to host the Type 3 team on the Cooks Peak Fire. Containment remains at 97% with continued monitoring of the interior heat and patrolling the containment lines. The type 3 team is set to demobilize tomorrow and will transition to a type 4 team that we will continue to host at Philmont.
We are grateful for all those involved in fighting the fire and keeping Philmont and our surrounding communities safe.
Philmont is preparing for summer operations as scheduled and currently onboarding seasonal staff.
Additional information can be found at:
https://www.facebook.com/CalfCanyonHermitsPeak/
https://nmfireinfo.com/
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8066/
To donate to the Fire Recovery and Mitigation Fund click below. 100% of your donation will go to Philmont:
https://bit.ly/PhilmontFireRecovery
During this time of financial restructuring, we are not permitted to accept donations from the following states: California, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, Virgin Islands or Wisconsin.