Two fires on the Gila slow down – Silvercity Daily Press – Silver City Daily Press and Independent

After igniting Sunday afternoon near Bursum Road, 18 miles southeast of Reserve in the Gila National Forest, the quickly growing Turkey Fire expanded by around 350 acres Sunday night and during the day Monday, pushing its total acreage to 800. However, much like the similarly sized Water Fire that firefighters battled near Mimbres at the end of last week, it is being contained.Today and yesterday, they did some strategic burning, so theres some line around the heel of the fire and the two flanks and [much of] the head, said Gila National Forest incident contact Andrew Mitchell on Monday. I suspect we will have a good containment number tomorrow morning right now its zero percent, but it looks like its pretty wrapped up and tight around three different sides.He added that although the total acreage of the fire grew since it started Sunday, some of that growth was intentional on the part of firefighters.Today was more about getting resources in place, finding opportunities to fight the fire directly and continue with hand crews [digging] line, Mitchell said Monday. We saw minimal fire activity maybe just some short runs in the grass so a lot of that new acreage is from the strategic burning.The cause of the fire still has not been determined, but Mitchell said it was definitely human-caused, as there was no lightning in the area when the fire started.Mitchell did not have an exact breakdown of resources currently allocated to the fire, but said that there are around 75 firefighters working on containing it.Another 50 firefighters are still at work monitoring the Water Fire that started 6 miles north of Mimbres last Thursday. That fire has not grown since the weekend, and is currently listed as 60 percent contained.Theres no fire activity on that one, so were just kind of searching out hot spots, Mitchell said. Its moving down in complexity to what we call a Type 4 the higher [the type number], the better.The cause of the Water Fire is also under investigation.Meanwhile, in the midst of an early onset fire season that is devastating forests and communities in other parts of the state, the federal Bureau of Land Management has implemented fire restrictions across public lands in the area.According to a Monday release from the BLM, the bureau is implementing fire restrictions across Doa Ana, Otero, Luna, Sierra, Grant and Hidalgo counties in hopes of reducing the risk of wildfire on public lands.Prohibited acts under the federal order include the building and maintaining of campfires or use of coal and wood stoves, smoking in open areas that are near flammable material, possessing or driving a motor vehicle off roads, except when parking in an area devoid of vegetation within 10 feet of the roadway, and operating a chain saw or similar machine with internal or external combustion engines without taking proper precautions.The purpose of this order is for the protection of public health and safety by minimizing chances for wildfire starts, a spokesperson said in the release. Abundant dry fuels, high fire danger and worsening fire conditions have promoted this action.In late April, the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department enacted similar restrictions on non-municipal, non-federal, and non-tribal lands statewide.David Marquez may be reached at [emailprotected] press.com.

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Two fires on the Gila slow down - Silvercity Daily Press - Silver City Daily Press and Independent