Santa Fe National Forest

Laguna Wildfire Daily Update

Brandon Hess – Incident Commander

July 4, 2025

Acres: 1,300

Start Date: 6/25/2025

Completion: 12 %

Location: Located in the Coyote Ranger District, 8 miles north of New Mexico State Road 96 and west of the Chama River Canyon Wilderness.

Personnel: 120

Fuels: Oak brush, ponderosa pine, pinyon-juniper

Resources: 2 hotshot crews, 1 Type 2 Initial Attack crew, 1 suppression module, 1 helicopter, 6 engines, 2 water tenders

Highlights: Fire crews focused their efforts on reinforcing containment lines across the wildfire area. With the drier conditions following yesterday’s rain, firing operations were able to continue across the fire perimeter. To conduct a firing operation, firefighters cut away vegetation to make a line of bare soil ahead of a fire and then using aerial and hand ignitions burn the vegetation between that line and the actively burning fire front. Aerial ignitions produced light smoke, as vegetation burned and smoldered at low intensity. To prepare for operations tomorrow, fire crews used both aerial and hand ignitions to burn fuels on the east side of the wildfire.

Weather: Winds will taper off Friday evening with cool temperatures and good humidity recoveries overnight. Saturday will be even drier than today with warmer temperatures but lighter winds, limiting precipitation chances and raising temperatures to near normal. Moisture begins to increase Sunday into next week, where afternoon thunderstorms become likely each day through the middle of next week. These storms are likely to be slow and erratic, increasing the flash flooding risk.

Smoke: Smoke is expected to increase significantly tomorrow and Sunday as firing operations pick up. Light northwest winds will push smoke southeast of the fire tomorrow afternoon. Smoke may impact Canones, Los Alamos and Santa Fe but conditions are expect to remain at MODERATE levels overall. Heavy smoke is expected to settle in the Rio Chama valley Saturday night and Sunday morning, along with potential impacts along the NM State Road 96corridor. Smoke will lift as the morning heats up on Sunday but light winds will be slow to clear smoke.

Safety: The health and safety of firefighters and the public are always the highest priority. Please avoid the area while crews manage the Laguna Wildfire. Drones and firefighting aircraft are a dangerous mix and could lead to accidents or slow down wildfire operations. If you fly, we can’t.    

Closures: : Closure Order 03-10-01-25-08 is in place and includes all National Forest System lands, roads, and trails within Township 24N Range 1E Sections 1,2,11,12,13,14,23,24,25,26 and Township 24N Range 2E Sections 4-9 and Sections14-32 and Township 25N Range 1E Sections 25,35,36 and Township 25N Range 2E Sections 30-32 of the New Mexico Principal Meridian within the Coyote Ranger District. The purpose of this Order is to protect the public’s health and safety during firefighting operations for the Laguna Wildfire. See attached map for the closure area.

More Information: 505-607-0879 | claudia.brookshire@usda.gov| x.com/SantafeNF | facebook.com/santafeNF | Inciweb-Laguna Wildfire | NM Fire Info

About the Forest Service: The USDA Forest Service has for more than 100 years brought people and communities together to answer the call of conservation. Grounded in world-class science and technology– and rooted in communities–the Forest Service connects people to nature and to each other. The Forest Service cares for shared natural resources in ways that promote lasting economic, ecological, and social vitality. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, maintains the largest wildland fire and forestry research organizations in the world. The Forest Service also has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 900 million forested acres within the U.S., of which over 130 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.

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