The lightning-caused Black Feather Fire about 40 miles north of Santa Fe is still burning on just over 2,000 acres. Officials say rain this week has helped moderate the fire, and more in the forecast for this weekend could keep that up.
Sean Luchs of the National Weather Service said in a video played for a community meeting on Thursday about the fire that the area could see some scattered, heavy rains.
“The story for the next several days is going to be a plume of monsoonal moisture. That's going to try and get itself established over the desert Southwest,” he said.
Southwest Area Incident Management Team Fire Behavior Analyst Dan Pearson said at the meeting that while the rain is welcome, it doesn’t make up for the hot, dry summer in the region with the delayed monsoon season.
“That's insufficient to put this fire out on its own because of the amount of dead fuels in there,” he said, adding that it should bring crews closer to containing the fire.
“We're looking good for the next few days, but this is not a season ending event,” he said.
The Black Feather fire is currently 0% contained. Neighboring Mesa Pinebetal and Mesa Poleo are still in “set” status, meaning they should pack a bag and stay up-to-date on news about the fire, and Wetherill is in “ready” status.
This coverage is made possible by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners.
