McKinley County declares severe drought amid ongoing fire risk

McKinley County commissioners turned a months-long dry spell into an official warning on May 22, declaring severe and extreme drought across the county after Fire Chief Tim Berry briefed them in March and Deputy Fire Chief Rich Austin updated them again on May 12. The county was not easing into the declaration: U.S. Drought Monitor data cited for May 7 showed 79% of McKinley County in severe drought and the remaining 21% in extreme drought, leaving the entire county under drought. Drought.gov says 71,492 people are affected, and the county's January-through-March total ranked as the 19th driest year-to-date on record over 132 years.

For ranchers, growers and households in Gallup, Zuni Pueblo and the county's outlying communities, the warning is about water as much as fire. The governor's May 20 statewide order said drought is already reducing supplies for communities, farms, ranchlands and forests, and it warned of agricultural loss, severe wildfires and crop production loss. In practical terms, that pressure shows up first in stock water, dry pasture, tighter watering schedules and, for some families that haul or deliver water, higher costs when every gallon matters.

The county's declaration also lands on top of restrictions already in place. McKinley County Fire and Rescue imposed Stage 1 fire restrictions on March 27, and Gallup fire officials were already discussing possible fireworks limits ahead of the Fourth of July in early April. State Forester restrictions, in effect since April 6 on non-federal, non-Tribal and non-municipal lands, already blocked the kinds of open burning and fireworks that can turn dry brush into a fast-moving wildfire.

The broader state response is moving in the same direction. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's May 20 order said New Mexico had logged 366 fires before May 1, more than twice the number in the same period last year, after a winter marked by the lowest snowpack, highest temperatures and lowest runoff in recorded history. The order urged counties and municipalities to consider water restrictions and fireworks bans, and earlier executive action authorized additional emergency funds for the Forestry Division to pre-position resources and keep wildfire response moving. For McKinley County, the declaration is a signal that summer fire danger is not a future threat but a present one.