Smoke still visible, but Ruidoso fires not spreading anymore, analyst says

Smoke from the South Fork and Salt fires blots out the sun Tuesday along NM Highway 70 outside of Tilley, NM. (Photo by Danielle Prokop / Source NM)

Drivers on highways near the South Fork and Salt fires can still observe smoke, but experts say the fire is unlikely to significantly spread over the next couple of days.

Southwest Area Incident Management Team 5 Fire Behavior Analyst Dan Pearson, told the community this news on Sunday, the day before people were allowed back into homes where the fires and subsequent floods ravished parts of Ruidoso Village in southeastern New Mexico.

Smoke could still be seen along Highway 70 on the north side of the Salt Fire, Pearson said, and higher up in the mountains on the northwest side of the South Fork Fire.

“You’ll still see some smoke, so there is still fire burning,” Pearson said. “But what those smokes are, are stumps. Conglomerations of old, dead and downed fuels that are large in diameter, able to withstand the precipitation, and still maintain the heat, just because they’re so dry and so large.”

Those fires will keep burning out over the next several days this week, and visible smoke will continue. But the fuels around those sources of smoke aren’t able to rapidly ignite, he said.

Pearson said people have probably noticed there isn’t as much smoke compared to six days earlier. Rainfall has significantly changed the “fuel situation” since the fires started, he said. 

The fires made their initial runs on June 17 and 18 under very hot, very dry, extremely windy conditions, Pearson said.

Those conditions have since “moderated” because of a combination of higher humidity, rainfall and the work by firefighters and pilots, Pearson said.

Rainfall has made fuels more moist and surrounding fuels much less available to rapidly ignite and allow fire to grow, he said.

The fires had “very limited growth” between June 19 and Sunday, Pearson said. Humidity has been going up at night, limiting the amount of time in each day the fires can burn.

“So while it is going to be sunny, and we will have some wind, and we might see an uptick in smoke production, the fires aren’t actually going anywhere,” Pearson said. “We’re observing those and ready to take action if needed, but they’re surrounded by black areas that have already burned.”

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