Encerrita Flyover

The Encerrita Fire in the Zuni Mountains sparked up on June 15 and is blazing across 2,496 acres as June 25 at 9 a.m. The fire has been at zero percent contained since it lit, but crews at El Malpais National Monument say the number is not reflective of their efforts. On Facebook, the national monument posted: “While the fire remains zero percent contained, that number is not reflective of the amount of work that has gone into establishing containment features on the north and west sides of the fire. Due to the broken nature of the landscape where vegetation is growing in and among lava flows, establishing control features is difficult or impossible in many locations around the fire. For that reason, the containment percentage of the fire’s perimeter will remain well below 100 percent for the duration of the fire.”