The black fire mountain fire in New Mexico is raging, and its intensity and speed are growing rapidly. Its pyrocumulonimbus clouds have crossed the continental divide and become the second largest fire in New Mexico.
On May 13, 2022, a raging new mountain fire broke out in Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico. The state burned more than 500000 acres in early wildfires this year, and forecasters predict that the situation may continue to deteriorate before the fire ends.
The black fire began burning in the oldoliopod wilderness in the Black Mountains, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of truth or consequence City, New Mexico. On May 16, the fire broke out, expanding the area from 18000 acres to more than 56000 acres.
An explosion is a sudden increase in the intensity or spread rate of a fire. On May 16, the outbreak of the black fire produced a small fire cumulus, which spread eastward and across the continental divide. By the end of May, the fire had burned more than 220000 mu in the UK, becoming the second largest fire in the UK. 8% of the perimeter is under control, and more than 600 firefighters are putting out the fire.
These images were obtained by the land imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 on May 21, 2022, showing the area burned by black fire in natural and false colors. False color images combine short wave infrared, near infrared and visible light (OLI band 7-5-2). Near wave and short wave infrared help penetrate clouds and smoke (grayish white) to reveal hot spots associated with active fires (red). With this combination, the burned area appears reddish brown.
Black fire is one of several fires burning in New Mexico, second only to the calf Canyon hermits peak fire. As of May 23, 2022, the fire had exceeded 300000 acres - the largest in the state's history - and was controlled by 40%. According to the national inter agency fire control center (NIFC), by 2022, more than 300 fires had occurred in New Mexico, burning more than 580000 acres. This is almost five times the burned area in 2021.