Rio Fire smoke visible across Los Alamos County, no threat reported

Smoke from the Rio Fire was visible across Los Alamos County on Tuesday, but county officials said the lightning-sparked blaze on the Santa Fe National Forest posed no threat to Los Alamos. The fire was first detected Monday evening and was estimated at 5 to 10 acres in a remote, previously burned area on Mesa de la Gallina, three miles northeast of Chicoma Mountain.

The fire’s location and the weather were helping push smoke across the region, even as the flames stayed far from town. County officials said residents in Los Alamos, Santa Fe, Española and nearby communities could see smoke because the fire was burning in a hard-to-reach area. That visibility, officials stressed, did not mean the county itself was in immediate danger.

Fire managers said access remained limited on the site, and crews were working first to establish safe routes before fully engaging the fire. The burn area includes rocky terrain, heavy dead-and-down fuels, ponderosa pine and brush, all of which can make suppression harder and allow a fire to spread faster when red flag conditions are present. A Red Flag Warning was posted for the Santa Fe National Forest from noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday, a reminder of how quickly warm, dry and windy weather can change the situation.

Resources assigned to the Rio Fire included three engines, two Type 1 helicopters and one Type 2 Initial Attack hand crew, with 35 personnel ordered or already on scene. Fire information said the blaze was expected to grow somewhat because of the limited access and dry, windy conditions in the forecast.

The Rio Fire was one of several lightning-caused starts across the Santa Fe National Forest after a thunderstorm moved through Northern New Mexico on June 15. The U.S. Forest Service said multiple small fires were detected across the forest, including the Oso Fire, the Gallina Fire and the Krause Fire, underscoring that the Rio Fire was part of a broader burst of fire activity rather than an isolated event.

By Wednesday, NM Fire Info reported the Rio Fire had grown to 128 acres and that a Type 3 Incident Management Team had been ordered. The rapid growth highlighted why fire officials were watching the weather so closely, especially in a region still shaped by the 2022 Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, which burned 341,471 acres and remains the largest wildfire in New Mexico history.