A C-130 military cargo plane drops fire retardant over Frijoles Canyon to protect ancient ruins in Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico. Photographed on June 27 by Jayson Coil
We noted last week that the Las Conchas Fire, the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, had forced the closure of Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos. Today we learned how grim the situation is at Bandelier, which we featured in "Hotspots Near You" in our August issue.
Craig Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, station leader of the Jemez Mountains Field Station based at Bandelier, and an expert on wildfire, tells our writer, Steve Betchkal:
"It's a very ugly fire, now over 130,000 acres, the worst I've ever seen by far. Way too much crown fire. It burned 43,000 acres in the first 14 hours, all very hot. Over half of Bandelier burned, and the Capulin and Alamo upper watersheds and riparian areas took huge hits, as did parts of Frijoles Canyon.
"We'll likely remain evacuated from our offices until October (due to the threat of floods, as the rains are now about to finally come). I am feeling quite sad at times. Some of my very favorite lovely forests were completely consumed this time. Of course some 'good' fire occurred, too, but much of this fire was not. It either had unnatural stand-replacing intensities or reburned too soon into earlier fire-scarred areas."
The fire as seen from Highway 4, the road that leads to Bandelier. Photographed on June 26 by Jayson Coil
Jason Lott, the superintendent of Bandelier, told Reuters this week that floods pose a threat to the monument's historic sites and buildings.
The fire "burned off trees, ground-hugging grasses, and vegetation, raising concerns that any run-off will barrel down canyons unchecked, causing creeks to burst their banks," Reuters reported. "Crews at Bandelier began working on Monday to clear stream beds, removing logs and other debris creating a clearer path so waters cannot back up and flood historic sites and buildings."
A column of smoke from the Las Conchas Fire drifts toward Santa Fe on June 26. Photo by Jayson Coil
Photographer Jayson Coil, who is a firefighter with the Southwest Area Incident Management Team, has posted dramatic pictures of the fire to the Las Conchas Fire Flickr page, including the three in this post.
You can follow the latest on the fire on Twitter and InciWeb. --Matt Mendenhall, Associate Editor