Indios Fire Near Coyote Grows as Forecasters Predict a Dry, Windy Weekend

May 24—A wildfire in Rio Arriba County is still growing as New Mexico heads into a holiday weekend where dry conditions and strong winds will create a high fire risk across the state.

All of New Mexico is under a red flag warning for the weekend, meaning warm temperatures, very low humidity and stronger winds are expected to combine to produce an increased fire risk.

The Indian Fire, which was burning about seven miles north of Coyote Village, had grown to 1,809 acres by Friday morning and remained completely uncontained. There were 133 firefighters fighting the blaze with five engines, two chewers, a helicopter, a motor grader and a water cooler.

The lightning-caused fire has been burning since Sunday and is in “steep, nearly inaccessible terrain,” U.S. Forest Service officials said in a news release Friday.

Temperatures in the area reached about 72 degrees on Friday, with low humidity and wind gusts of up to 25 mph in the afternoon.

“Wind trends will be strongest on Saturday, creating critical fire weather conditions despite the slight increase in humidity,” forestry officials said.

This will happen across New Mexico on Saturday, especially in the southeastern part of the state, where the 1,500-acre Blue 2 Fire near Ruidoso has already prompted the evacuation of some rural homes.

Saturday will present “critical to extreme fire weather danger, really across the entire state of New Mexico,” Randall Hergert, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said in a Friday afternoon briefing.

Eastern New Mexico will be the windiest, with maximum gusts Saturday of 45 mph in Las Vegas, 48 ​​mph in Raton and Clines Corners and 45 mph in Carlsbad, Tucumcari and Santa Rosa. It will be a little calmer in Santa Fe, with wind gusts no higher than 37 mph.

In addition to the wind and “terribly low humidity,” southeastern New Mexico and the Sacramento Mountains area could be affected by smoke coming from the Blue 2 Fire and dust that limits visibility, Hergert said.

Northern New Mexico will likely be less affected by this, although forecasters say there is a possibility of isolated dust issues in the Santa Fe and Albuquerque areas.

On Friday, forestry officials closed a large area around the Indian Fire, including the entire Chama River Canyon Wilderness south of the Gallina River and Chama River. The rest of the closed area begins at Continental Divide Trail No. 298 at NM 96, north on Forest Road 77, through the wilderness to Skull Bridge at Forest Road 151.

Camping and water will be available at the Coyote Ranger Station for Continental Divide Trail hikers affected by the closure.