New Mexico’s fire season is already off to a raging start. New Mexico has already seen several serious fires across the state. These fires have destroyed hundreds of homes, killed two people so far, forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes and livestock, and they’ll cost millions of dollars.
At NMPBS, we don't cover breaking news -- laying out acres burned or keeping up with evacuation orders. But we can offer context for why these fires started burning in mid-April, which is early even for a changing fire season in a warmer world.
This week, on New Mexico in Focus, in a collaboration with Our Land, Environment Reporter Laura Paskus gives the context New Mexicans need to understand the impacts of the early start, and how we can navigate this growing threat. The Longest Season: An Our Land Wildfire Special, explores all these challenges, and the ongoing struggle to support and recruit federal wildland firefighters to control these blazes.
Paskus will be talking about concerns about our ability as a country to support – and recruit – the federal wildland firefighters on the front lines of these disasters. The special will include information on why fire season is becoming longer and scarier; how to protect your home and community; how the federal wildland firefighting force is being challenged; how the impacts of fires last far past when the flames are extinguished; and how communities can look toward the future.
New Mexico in Focus airs on NMPBS 5.1 (KNME HD) Friday, April 22 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, April 14 at 7 a.m., and streaming on the PBS video app. The show also airs on Ch.5.1 Thursday, May 5 at 7 p.m. and Wednesday, May 11 at 10 p.m.
Host
Gene Grant
Segments
New Mexico’s Evolving Droughts & Wildfire Threats
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guest
Parker Williams, bioclimatologist, UCLA
Forest Under Siege
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guests
Daniel Denipah, forestry director, Pueblo of Santa Clara
Laura McCarthy, New Mexico State Forester
John Formby, forest health specialist, New Mexico Forestry Division
Lindsey Quam, deputy director of forests, New Mexico Forestry Division
Fighting More Than Fire
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guests
Marcus Cornwell, federal wildland firefighter
Kelly Martin, president, Grassroots Wildland Firefighters
Jonathon Golden, former wildland firefighter
Wildland Firefighters Update
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guest
Jonathon Golden, former wildland firefighter
Preparing Homes for Fire Season
Correspondent
Laura Paskus
Guests
Tom Swetnam, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona
Wildfire Notifications & Resources
Correspondent
Laura Paskus