May 18, 2022 - Black Fire and Bear Trap Fire in New Mexico

Black Fire in New Mexico
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On May 16, 2022, strong winds continued to fan the ferocious fire
season in New Mexico. On that date, the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a
true-color image focused on fires located in the southwestern portion
of the state.

A large plume of thick smoke billows from several active fronts on the
rapidly expanding Black Fire, which ignited on May 13 in a wilderness
area in the Gila National Forest. Due to high temperatures, critically
low humidity of only 2-5 percent and gusty winds, by the evening of May
16 the fire had grown to 18,762 acres. Less than 24 hours later, in the
early afternoon of May 17, the fire had torched 56,132 acres of timber
and grassland. Firefighters expect the fire to continue extreme
activity, including active flanking and single tree torching for the
next several days, as above-normal temperatures and critically low
relative humidity are forecast through the weekend into next week.

A very small plume of smoke rises from a patch of green to the north of
the Black Fire, then blends with the large plume. This rises from the
Bear Trap fire, which was first reported as a 100-acre fire on May 1 in
Bear Trap Canyon of the San Mateo Mountains. As of May 17, this fire
had burnt 15,215 acres and was 28 percent contained. The incident
report published on InciWeb – Incident Information System website noted
that fuels are extremely dry in all categories. Live fuel moisture
remains at critical levels due to lack of seasonal precipitation. These
conditions also apply to the Black Fire, and the entire region.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 5/16/2022
Resolutions: 1km (212.4 KB), 500m (537.8 KB), 250m (314.6
KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-05-18

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