A team of New Mexico firefighters has been in the Palisades area of Los Angeles since Friday, helping fight the blazes that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed at least 24 people.
Other states sending firefighters to the region include Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Idaho.
The 19 New Mexico crew members, including five from Santa Fe, are led by Nathan Miller, wildland superintendent for the Santa Fe Fire Department.
“Every fire's a little different in a sense, but unfortunately, these fires seem to be burning more and more intensely," said Miller.
"This fire—like most of them that we've seen in the last couple years back home—have all been wind-driven. When they get up that high—80 to 100 MPH sustained winds that we're seeing were pretty hard to try and extinguish even with aircraft up in the air, to everybody down on the ground.”
Miller spoke with KSFR yesterday afternoon from his base, about 30 miles from where his strike team is working in a canyon near the outskirts of the Palisades Fire, which is near the Pacific coast.
Cal Fire reported this morning that crews had achieved 17% containment of the Palisades fire, which has thus far burned more than 23,000 acres.
Nathan Miller described the area where his team has been located as an wildland urban interface.
Their job at the moment is try to lessen chances that the fire, should it reach that already evacuated neighborhood, would do serious damage.
“We were out there on the back potentially, removing some furniture that could pose a threat to it," said Miller.
"Making sure that there was no vegetation that would come right up to the structure that in the event that it did get in there. And then, if need be, we'd stretch a hose line around that structure, and start extinguishing anything.”
Miller often leads teams on far-flung missions around New Mexico and in other states, including, in 2024, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
The work schedule for Miller’s New Mexico crew and all firefighters on the scene is grueling.
24 on, 24 off, as Miller called it. On their first full day of on the ground work, Miller’s crew began at 7 a.m. Saturday and didn’t knock off until about 9 a.m. Sunday.
“It can get a little taxing. but we just have to adapt and overcome, just keep on the move," he said.
When asked to reflect about conditions back home in New Mexico, he said that the persistent dryness has extended the fire season from a few months to the entire year.
“We all know the big factor is moisture," Miller said.
"And if we don't get a lot of moisture statewide, especially our partners down in the southern part of the state—it used to be back in the day that New Mexico's fire season was March to maybe July when we'd get our monsoons.
"Nowadays we're just seeing year-round conditions that we could potentially have a fire statewide.”
The fire crew is expected to be in California for about two weeks.
