Governor declares drought, severe fire conditions statewide in New Mexico

Fire restrictions are already shaping daily life in McKinley County as Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham declared drought and severe fire conditions statewide and ordered state agencies to coordinate community and water-protection efforts. For Gallup, Gamerco Township and nearby rural areas, the warning lands close to home: one spark can move fast across dry grasslands, canyon edges and public lands that border homes, roads and ranch country.

State officials said the danger is being driven by unseasonably warm temperatures, critically low humidity, high winds and abundant dry fine fuels. The New Mexico Forestry Division’s statewide restrictions, first enacted on April 6, prohibit smoking, fireworks, campfires, prescribed, open, agricultural and debris burning, and gas-flaring tied to oil and gas production on non-federal, non-Tribal and non-municipal lands. Some limited exceptions remain for designated smoking areas, approved public fireworks displays and certain cooking or heating devices in improved camping areas.

The scale of the fire season helped push the declaration. New Mexico recorded 366 fires before May 1 in the first four months of 2026, about twice the number reported during the same stretch in 2025. That matters in McKinley County, where the Gallup Fire Department covers the City of Gallup, Gamerco Township and surrounding parts of the county with 42 uniformed firefighters and more than 6,000 calls for help each year. Any major grass fire or wind-driven wildfire can quickly stretch local crews and mutual aid from volunteer departments.

The state’s response also ties wildfire risk to water supply. The New Mexico Drought Task Force, in place since 2002 and led by the State Engineer with more than 10 state agencies, warns that scientists predict New Mexico could have 25% less water over the next 50 years. The task force says hotter, drier conditions will produce more extreme wildfires, greater erosion and less predictable runoff as snowpack and precipitation patterns change.

Laura McCarthy, the 11th State Forester and the first woman to hold the role since joining the Forestry Division in 2019, is leading the state’s firefighting side of the response. The Forestry Division is responsible for suppression across 43 million acres of non-federal, non-municipal and non-Tribal lands and says it employs about 300 emergency wildland firefighters. Its real-time restriction map, developed with partners through the Southwest Coordinating Group, is meant to help residents track changes, but it does not replace the statewide order already in effect.