Report: 2022 Wildfire in New Mexico Started by US Forest Service's Prescribed Burn

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, 66,255 wildfires burned 7,534,403 acres in the United States in 2022.

The US Forest Service has now admitted it started a sprawling 2022 wildfire after an earlier prescribed burn smoldered undetected under the winter’s snow for months, before reigniting and burning more than 60 square miles.

The blaze, called the Cerro Pelado fire, nearly reached Los Alamos, New Mexico, causing schools to close and residents to prepare for evacuation before the fire petered out.

After a yearlong investigation, the agency was able to track the wildfire’s source, eventually pointing the finger at their own prescribed burn. Last year, the US government admitted New Mexico’s largest wildfire in state history, known as the Calf Canyon/Hermit’s Peak blaze, was also caused by a prescribed burn that went on to destroy hundreds of homes and displace thousands of residents.

Forest Service officials intentionally burn dry materials in forests in order to prevent larger, uncontrolled fires later; however, recent incidents show major wildfires have been caused - rather than prevented - by the tactic, prompting some to question the method’s viability.

The Forest Service temporarily halted prescribed burns for three months following the Santa Fe fires. Firefighters now monitor controlled burns using thermal devices and drones that detect heat.

“The warming climate is making our forests more vulnerable to catastrophic wildfires. That’s a reality that our Forest Service can and must urgently respond to when deciding when and how to do prescribed burns,” US Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) said in a statement. “We cannot catch up to this reality if it takes nearly a year to even make the findings on the Cerro Pelado Fire public.”

Heinrich urged the Forest Service to be more transparent with residents in the state in order to rebuild the “public’s trust.”