New Mexico Wildfire alert: Cienegita Fire update

The Cienegita fire started on 6/3/2022, located approximately four miles northwest of the Village of Ruidoso, New Mexico, on the Mescalero Apache Indian Reservation. The fire was determined to be caused by several dry lightning strikes that hit the area that afternoon. The fire reached 37 acres the following day while both ground and aerial resources directly attacked the fire in tandem and Pecos Type 3 incident management team was assigned to the fire. Crews and aerial resources made excellent progress the following days bringing the fire’s total containment to 95% by 6/7/22. The afternoon of 6/8/22, command of the fire was handed back to the local agency.

Over the next few days, the Smokey Bear Interagency Hotshot Crew (IHC) and aerial resources will remain on the scene to monitor the fire area and ensure there are no longer hotspots.