California fires serve as warning for Four Corners to stay alert
SAN JUAN COUNTY, N.M. — Right now, fire crews are risking their lives and doing their best to help fight the wildfires in California, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t fire danger here.
San Juan County Fire and Rescue leaders spoke about how the California fires serve as a warning for the Four Corners.
“I mean, we’re in January, and we’re already getting our first roll of the season,” said Shay Aurnhammer, division chief of special operations for San Juan County Fire and Rescue. “So that kind of raises some red flags.”
While San Juan County has three crew members helping fight the Palisades Fire, the crews here are staying on high alert.
“So that we can make sure that we have the best possible resources for our community,” she said.
Aurnhammer said that while we may still be in winter, the recent above-average temperatures and lack of measurable moisture aren’t helping the fire danger.
“We know we’re dry here as well. We don’t have a lot of precipitation in the outlook that we’re planning on continuing to monitor, so that’s one of the things we’re going to continue to watch out for,” she said.
Even with some recent snow.
“When we do get some snow, or we do get some precipitation, people expect that that solves the problem, but that’s not necessarily the case. It still gets hot, dry, and windy here,” said Aurnhammer.
She said there are some things you can do to help prevent wildfires from sparking, and burning, out of control.
“So just don’t let your guard down,” Aurnhammer said. “Be careful when you’re burning and don’t expect that this problem is going to be fixed overnight, because we’re just a dry part of the state.”