New Mexico’s Wildfire Season Sparks Early

Plenty of people will argue "there's no end to wildfire season these days in New Mexico." But historically, April is not a typically busy wildfire month for the state. Usually, it's another month before New Mexico's wildfire season peaks. So far in April 2022, destructive wildfires have made their mark near Las Vegas, Belen and Ruidoso. At least two people have died in the wind-whipped McBride Fire in Ruidoso amid 60-90 mph wind gusts. More than 200 homes were also destroyed there before a 700 to 1000 person "type one" incident team arrived. This week on the podcast, a state forestry expert joins Chris and Gabby to talk about how New Mexico responds to wildfires. What determines the response each fire gets? Why does it take so long to determine a fire's cause, even if everyone else is saying they think they know what it was? How hard is it to get the word out about fires? How can you protect yourself? Those questions and more are discussed this week.

Got a line for the show? Let us know. Email us at chris.mckee@krqe.com or gabrielle.burkhart@krqe.com. We're also on Twitter at @ChrisMcKeeTV and @gburkNM.  For more on this episode and all of our prior episodes, visit our website: KRQE.com/podcasts.