Single Publication

Containment has been added to the Blue 2 Fire    

Daily Update: May 31, 2024

Acres:7,457                                                                                                       Start Date: May 16, 2024 

Location: 8 miles North of Ruidoso, White Mountain Wilderness Area                    Cause: Lightning

Personnel: 785                                                                                                    Fuels: Timber/Grass/Brush

Containment: 5%                                                                                              

Resources: 17 crews | 31 engines | 8 helicopters | 9 bulldozers | 12 Water Tenders

Highlights: Firefighters achieved 5% containment on the southern side of Soldier Mountain. Ground crews are being supported by air resources to address areas of heat near the fires edge. The road closure on State Road 37 from State Road 48 to U.S. Route 380 was lifted by New Mexico Police around 12:30 pm yesterday. The fire danger level has also been increased to “Very High” and Stage 2 Fire Restrictions have been implemented per Forest Service officials. 

Operations: Structure protection personnel continue to work on setting up pumps and sprinklers for the communities east of the Forest Service boundary. Bonito Lake structure protection has been completed but will continue to be patrolled. Fire crews worked with helicopters yesterday around Monjeau Peak to successfully extinguish hotspots. Heavy equipment is being used along the forest boundary as well as on the northern section of the fire to make sure the communities have a safe secondary line in place. 

Weather: The fire area experienced low humidity and high temperatures yesterday. Today, the humidity is expected to increase which will help keep smoke moderate in the surrounding areas. There are isolated storms near the Texas and New Mexico border that are bringing in the humidity but no significant moisture over the fire is expected.

Smoke: Winds are expected to stay moderate which will assist with minimal fire growth or smoke production. 

Much of the smoke that had been lingering around areas closest to the fire cleared out. Areas that had been experiencing periods of heavy smoke, such as Bonito and Capitan, can expect GOOD air quality. There is the potential for periods of light smoke this evening and overnight, but overall conditions should be much improved. View an interactive smoke map at fire.airnow.gov/

Closures: The Lincoln National Forest has issued an emergency area closure for the Blue 2 Fire. The full closure order (No.03-08-24-0001) and map are available on Inciweb and the Lincoln NF website. 

Evacuations: There have been no recent evacuation level changes. The Lincoln County Emergency Services have been working with the incident management team daily to evaluate the status of all the evacuation levels. Effort is being made by fire crews to ensure that the fire perimeter is safe before repopulation of the surrounding communities. For an interactive evacuation map go to tinyurl.com/Blue2Evacs

Safety: A temporary flight restriction (TFR) is in place over the area, which includes uncrewed aircraft systems or drones. Find the TFR at tfr.faa.gov/tfr_map_ims/html/

May 31 Blue 2 Public Information Map.jpg

Fri, 05/31/2024 - 10:21

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May 31 Blue 2 Public Information Map.jpg