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Emergency manager warns of high wildfire potential across eastern Colfax County into spring
Summary
Colfax County emergency management presented multiple indicators pointing to low snow water equivalent and rising wildfire potential across the county, with eastern grass and piñon-juniper areas singled out for early-season risk.
Tom Dehill, Colfax County emergency management director, briefed the commission on Jan.–April wildfire potential and said snow-water equivalents are well below normal in monitoring locations across the region.
Dehill said wildfire risk depends largely on three variables — fuel loading, moisture and weather — and summarized regional monitoring points. "To throw some numbers out at you real quickly, right now...Toby Meadows, typically, we should be seeing about 30 inches. The snow water equivalent...we're sitting at 9.9 inches," Dehill said, and he described other local monitoring sites with below-normal moisture totals.
He told the commission that model charts place much of New Mexico into "critical" or "significant wildfire potential" by February and into higher terrain by March, with a statewide pattern that could extend the season into late summer without a strong monsoon. Dehill highlighted eastern Colfax County, north of Farley, where standing grasses measure two to three feet and fuel continuity is high.
Dehill said local fire chiefs and state forestry partners are preparing; training and mutual-aid relationships are being reinforced. He recommended continued coordination between county agencies, fire districts and state forestry to prioritize fuel-reduction and readiness steps.
Commissioners asked about attendance at regional coordination meetings and Dehill said he expected to attend a Ute Park event and the Southwest Regional Conference in Phoenix to coordinate response and intelligence.
