fire

Researchers at the University of Arizona were recently awarded $1.5 million over four years to study fire interactions in northern New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains. Using both tree-ring and archaeological methods, the scientists will shed light on how to live within these forests sustainably so they persist even in the face of climate change.

Posted by Zack Guido | on September 21, 2011
Raging fires, mile-high walls of dust, bone-dry drought, and pipe-bursting freezes wreaked havoc across the Southwest this year. By the end of August, drought and fires alone cost New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and other western states more than $5 billion, which does not include the recent blazes that destroyed more than 1,000 of houses in Texas. Ten disasters across the country have cost more than $1 billion already this year, breaking the previous record of nine set in 2008, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In fact, CNN dubbed 2011 the year of billion-dollar disasters (August 20).

In the past week, the Texas Forest Service responded to an estimated 181 fires covering more than 210 square miles, mostly in the eastern half of the state.  High winds perpetuated by Tropical Storm Lee fanned flames and exace

The impact of the recent Southwest wildfires will be felt long after the fires are out, according to a recent article by Shaun McKinnon of the Arizona Republic.

The Las Conchas fire near Los Alamos in north-central New Mexico has become the largest in state history. The fire consumed 130,691 acres as of Wednesday, July 6, and is 30% contained.

The 2011 fire season is the worst since 1990, when fire record-keeping began, according to the June 2011 Southwest Climate Outlook from CLIMAS. Nearly 1.4 million acres have burned across Arizona and New Mexico since June 14.