The Gail Fire: Your Friday Morning Update
The Gail Fire broke out Tuesday afternoon near Mayhill, New Mexico. Here's the latest update.
The Cloudcroft Reader checked in with Gail Fire Incident Commander Caleb Finch at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, March 21st. Here’s what we learned:
The fire size was officially reduced from 235 acres at its peak on Wednesday to 103 acres and is 25% contained.
Personnel and resources are preparing for higher winds in the forecast.
“We reduced some personnel and resources as there’s no longer a need for them to remain on the fire. (Some responders) are being released to go home and rest and be ready because we’re under some higher winds today and tomorrow,” Finch says.
Many area volunteer firefighters initially responded to the Gail Fire. One local VFD member, also an employee of Cloudcroft Municipal Schools, reports that they fought the fire until 1:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and returned to work at school only hours later.
As of Thursday, “all evacuations have been lifted on the Genasys Evacuation Map with all previous evacuation zones returning to ‘Normal’ status,” according to the Watch Duty wilfire reporting app.
The mountain community outpoured support online, offering lodging to Mayhill evacuees through the community's Facebook pages. The Cloudcroft High School served as the initial evacuation shelter, and then the shelter transitioned to the Cloudcroft VFD Station along Highway 82.
The incident is transitioning from a Type 3 incident to a Type 4. “What that [involves] is the complexity. That will occur at (6:00 p.m.) today and resources will still be on scene for this fire for 2 to 4 more days and then it will still be patrolled,” Finch says.
No structures were affected, but one outbuilding was lost. No fatalities or injuries are reported at this time.
Next, comes repair:
“The next phase of the incident will be the suppression repair where we begin to patch fence lines, rehabilitate the control lines that were put in by the heavy equipment and return things back to the best we can,” Finch elaborates.
The Reader will continue to follow the Gail Fire and report future developments.
For our previous coverage:
The Gail Fire Near Mayhill, New Mexico: Wednesday Morning Update
Lowering Fire Risk: The Village Enters Level Two Restrictions
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