SANTA FE, N.M. — Even as crews continue battling the Frijoles Fire burning east of Cundiyo, federal officials are already looking ahead to one of the biggest threats that follows a wildfire: flooding and erosion.
The U.S. Forest Service has launched a Burned Area Emergency Response, or BAER, assessment of the fire’s nearly 15,500-acre burn scar. The goal is to determine how severely the fire damaged soils and vegetation and identify areas at risk for post-fire flooding, debris flows, and erosion.
The Frijoles Fire, which was sparked by lightning on August 4, burned across portions of the Española Ranger District in the Santa Fe National Forest. Specialists are now using satellite imagery and field inspections to classify burn severity and predict how the landscape could respond to future storms.
Officials say when vegetation is stripped away and soils become damaged by intense heat, rainfall can run off more quickly, increasing the risk of flooding and sediment impacts to rivers, reservoirs, wildlife habitat, farms, and local water supplies.
The assessment will help determine whether emergency stabilization measures, such as erosion-control treatments or watershed protection projects, are needed on national forest lands.
Meanwhile, the Forest Service is reminding residents that the danger isn’t over. Fire crews remain active on the northeast edge of the fire, a closure order remains in effect, and monsoon storms could create dangerous flash flooding both near and downstream of the burned area.
Additional information on the BAER assessment and any recommended treatments will be released once the analysis is completed.
