The fire began Tues., 6/21/16, destroyed 24 homes and 21 minor structures, and as of 6/24/16, cost $5.7 million just in supplies, equipment, and salaries.
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7/1/16, "Forest Service confirms brush clearing started Dog Head Fire," Albuquerque Journal, Rick Nathanson, Chilili
"U.S. Forest Service officials on Friday confirmed Journal
reports that the cause of the Dog Head Fire in the Manzano Mountains was
tied to a federally funded wildland brush and wood clearing effort
designed to prevent fires.
Specifically they said the 18,000 acre blaze was started by a masticator, a forest thinning or brush cutting machine. The
clearing effort — known as the Collaborative Landscape Restoration
Project — is a joint effort of Isleta Pueblo, Forest Service and Chilili
Land Grant.
An Isleta crew was working the masticator in the area
the day the fire started and members called their pueblo officials
about 11:24 a.m. June 14 as soon as they saw the first flames, Forest
Service officials said. Pueblo officials notified the U.S. Forest
Service Mountainair Ranger District about the same time Forest Service
lookout at Capilla Peak southwest of the fire spotted smoke.
The
Albuquerque office of the Forest Service dispatched two firefighting
trucks and a battalion chief within minutes of being notified, officials
told a crowd of about 100 people inside the Chilili Gymnasium Friday.
They said they did not know if the Isleta crew members made any immediate efforts to fight the fire themselves.
Forestry
and other experts already are planning mitigation efforts to minimize
runoff damage from the upcoming monsoon season and some effort should
begin as early as next week.
Restoration of the area is expected
to be less difficult than anticipated because the effect of the fire on
the soil was much less damaging than first thought, said Cody Stropki, a
watershed scientist with SWCA Environmental Consultants. Restoration
will be easier because the seed banks, those seeds still the ground and
ready for new growth, were not destroyed in many areas, he told the
Journal.
Officials refused to release information about the cause,
and which agencies responded and when until Friday during a news
conference that began just before noon at the Chilili Gym. Many details
still were not discussed because the fire still is under investigation,
they said.
The Journal reported Thursday that many area residents already had identified the cause of the fire.
“That’s
been the word on the street from the get-go, that the Isleta Pueblo was
chipping wood and that’s what caught on fire,” East Mountain resident
Debbie Battaglino told the Journal.
Multiple sources told the
Journal on Thursday that a heavy-equipment masticator chipping or
clearing wood and brush malfunctioned, sparking the blaze.
Most agencies involved in the fire did not return request for comment on Thursday.
According
to a U.S. Department of Agriculture website, the Isleta thinning
project is one of 39 projects funded nationwide through the $40 million
Joint Chiefs’ Landscape Restoration Partnership.
The Isleta
Project, the only one funded in New Mexico, has had a goal of reducing
“the potential for uncharacteristic wildfires” and aimed to “protect
community, cultural, and natural resources by accelerating hazardous
fuels treatments where the Isleta Pueblo, Chilili Land Grant and Cibola
National Forest meet.”"
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6/24/16, "Dog Head Fire containment reaches 83 percent," koat.com
"Dog Head Fire is human caused, fire officials say."
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