The Frijoles Fire doubled in size on Saturday, growing from 500 acres in the morning to 1,000 acres by evening after a drone over the blaze forced firefighting helicopters to land for part of the day. The fire was still uncontained as it spread through steep terrain near the Rio Frijoles.
The size jump came on a day when crews were already trying to hold the line with a full suppression effort. Sean McNearney said drones pose a serious risk to firefighting and can cause air operations to cease, and he added, “If you fly, we can’t!”
By Saturday morning, the fire had been burning since lightning sparked it on Tuesday, and 68 fire personnel were assigned to it. By evening, that number had risen to 86, while large air tankers and three helicopters were dropping water and retardant when they could. Crews with bulldozers were building indirect containment lines north of Frijoles Canyon, and Hotshots were working west of the fire and south of the Rio Frijoles.
The grounding of helicopters was the sharpest setback of the day. Air support is the fastest way to hit a fire moving through hard-to-reach ground, and losing it even briefly gave the blaze room to grow. The person who flew the drone had not been identified by Saturday evening.
The fire is about 3 miles southeast of Cundiyó and 5 miles west of Sierra Mosca, and N.M. 503 has been closed from its northern end west of Cordova to its intersection with County Road 98. Residents of Cundiyó and Cerro Piñon were told to be ready if conditions worsen, though that status does not mean an immediate evacuation. The public has also been asked to avoid the fire area and the Santa Cruz Overlook Road and Campground.
What comes next now depends on whether crews can keep aircraft in the air and stop the fire from taking more ground in the same steep country that slowed them down on Saturday.
