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Fire crews yesterday treated 500 acres in the American Creek Prescribed Fire unit, wrapping up ignitions on the project. They remain on scene today to mop up and hold the fire, which will continue to burn fuels in the unit's interior. Smoke may continue to be visible.

With a total of 950 acres treated, fire managers opted to not treat the remaining 59 acres to provide for firefighter safety and ease of holding fire lines. Beginning Saturday, a smaller organization will continue to patrol and monitor the fire until it is called out.  An uncrewed aerial system, or drone, equipped with infrared will be used to monitor the area for heat during holding.

The American Creek Prescribed Fire is an understory burn, which mimics fire’s natural role in vegetation communities where it is frequent and low intensity. Crews apply fire broadly throughout an area under the forest canopy where grasses, leaf litter, fallen and dried pine needles, downed branches, brush and occasional single or clusters of trees are burned.

The prescribed fire unit is part of the Rio Tusas-Lower San Antonio Landscape Project, which aims to restore the forest health throughout nearly half of the Tres Piedras Ranger District. The project is part of the larger Rio Chama Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Project to address forest and watershed health in Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado.

Two other prescribed fires are tentatively scheduled over the next few days. The Sotano Prescribed Fire near El Rito and Vallecitos (Rio Arriba County) could start as early as Sunday and the La Jara and Apache Prescribed Fire near Angel Fire could start as early as Monday.