Fire at Philmont

[GNX Guy]

Approx 6:00pm this evening I witnesses a chopper land, deploy its bucket and begin to drop water on the left side of the valley below Tooth of time. Heavy smoke was rising. Luckly not too much wind. Possible lightning strike as I saw lightning about 30 min prior. Not sure, but it may have been by or near the Rocky Mtn Scout Camp?

[John-in-KC]

If you're out at PTC (or in Cimarron), what does Reservation Staff say?

 

Looking at Googlenews and through it the KOAT Albuqueruqe website, there is nothing about any fires near Cimarron as of 6PM Central June 23 2008.

[John-in-KC]

Here is what was reported at the Interagency Fire information site for New Mexico, www.nmfireinfo.com:

 

The West Fork Fire

The 4,950 acre West Fork Fire is burning east of Raton on the Vermejo Park Ranch. A Type II Incident Management Team from Arizona assumed command of the fire yesterday at 6 am. The fire is 40 % contained and is burning primarily in ponderosa pine, pinon and juniper fuels types. Fire behavior consists of smoldering with occasional low intensity surface fire; crews made considerable progress towards completely burnout operations. Very difficult topography creates challenges in constructing and securing direct handline in some areas of the outer perimeter of the fire. Today's objective is to continue patrolling, mop-up and fireline construction. Approximately 401 personnel from multiple local, state and federal agencies are assigned to the fire, as well as 16 engines, eight water tenders, one helicopters, two heavy air tankers, 11 handcrews, and two dozers.

 

Monday, 06-23-08, 09:11AM

 

Another site I found is the US Dept of the Interior/USDA joint website www.geomac.gov. There appears to be a fire NE of Tucumcari and another fire called the West Fork fire. There is no new info on googlenews.

[SR540Beaver]

I got a call about 9 PM CST last night from my son. He is part of the crew from our troop that is at Philmont. They arrived in camp yesterday and are hitting the trail this morning. Our SM's older son is their ranger. My son reported the same thing that GNX did. Smoke rising near the tooth if time and helicopers with bambi buckets flying overhead to go put them out. They had heard it was due to lightening. I can't wait until they get off the trail to hear all of their stories.

[GNX Guy]

I've got photos I can post after I return July 7th

 

[Joni4TA]

Oh man!

 

It must have been contained immediately or at least wasn't too bad because there's just nothing about it at all in the news. I hope all is well.

[Trevorum]

Our crew just returned late last night from Philmont. (It has been absolutely terrific being away from electronics for 10 days!)

 

The fire on the Tooth was small and was contained quickly the same day (6/22). No crews were seriously rerouted.

 

Our crew hiked up through Ponil Canyon and the Valle Vidal, portions of which were serously burned in 2002. Some ridgetops still look like war zones, but most of the terrain is stunningly beautiful. I strongly recommend the Valle to all!

 

 

 

I wanta go back!