The Calf Canyon and Hermit Canyon wildfires in New Mexico started in late April and have been burning since that time. Worst of all, according to The New York Times, the two wildfires have merged, encompass an area greater than 500 miles, and have destroyed over 300 homes making this conflagration the largest wildfire in New Mexico history.
However, it was recently revealed by USA Today that both fires were started by the U.S. Forest Service as part of a controlled burn effort. One fire was started on April 6th east of Santa Fe that resulted in firefighters being unable to control, while the other was conducted during January and was thought to have been extinguished but remained inert under brush and somehow reignited. Eventually, both fires combined and then wildly burned unchecked.
The New York Times says both controlled burns were part of Biden’s plan to prevent disastrous wildfires by spending $50 billion increasing the use of planned fires. USA Today states that a 90 day moratorium was imposed by Forest Service Fire Chief Randy Moore to examine the process for the controlled burns while citing unfavorable weather too.
New Mexico’s Governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, has, rightly, demanded that the Forest Service accept responsiblity for the blaze and for FEMA to cover the full costs of recovery efforts. In the meantime, thousands of firefighters continue to fight the conflagration that’s costing New Mexico $5 million a day and hundreds of homes have not only been demolished, but the overall toll on people’s lives who were affected by the blaze is unfathomable.
While using controlled burns to prevent greater fires is a smart move, no doubt environmentalists will cynically use the events leading up to this wildfire in an attempt to make the case that controlled burns don’t work or that the fires started because of human caused climate change. This is really another demonstration of the incompetence of the Biden administration. Just about everything they get involved in is a disaster and innocent Americans pay the price.