The Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire of 2022 was the largest and most devastating fire in New Mexico’s history. Climate change that precipitated the drought and heat that sparked the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire was human caused.
The Devastation
On a windy day when drought and scorching heat had reached extremes, a “controlled” burn by the United States Forest service breached its intended boundaries and ravaged more than 500 square miles of rural New Mexico. Hundreds of homes were lost, and four deaths occurred in the torrential rains and flash floods that followed the fires. My images depict the aftermath of the largest and most devastating fire in New Mexico’s history.
In repeated visits to the burn area, I photographed fire-ravaged homes and cars, forests of tooth pick blackened trees, a fire mosaic across mountains and hills. I photographed raging creeks, a flood plain of scattered debris and piled sandbags.
Mineral Hill, New Mexico
At Mineral Hill, I focused my camera on a small adobe house, burned beyond repair. The damaged walls have charred orange and black. Windows and doors have collapsed. Fallen roof beams have scattered around. A family erected memorial sat beside the house. A coffee cup inscribed, “Too Hot to handle”, An American flag, fire burned metal objects and artificial flowers balanced on an upright wooden palette.
The House belongs to the family of “Grandma” Luisa, a 96 year old mother of eight, grandmother and great grandmother of many. She was widowed at an early age when her husband died in a car crash near the Romeroville exit on I 25.
I learned the family home was built in the 1940’s, and Luisa and her sister made many of the adobes that comprise the walls. Luisa described how in those days they grew their own vegetables and raised chickens and other livestock. “The well water was clearer than the water in that bottle.” She pointed to my water bottle. “It is still beautiful here,” she says, and I agreed as I looked towards Hermit’s Peak in the distance ignoring the blackened trees near Luisa’s trailer.
I asked Luisa for permission to make a photograph of her beside the ruins of the house. She fluffed her curly white hair, and was ready to poise. I unfolded the chair I brought with me and offered Luisa a seat. She sat erect near a collapsed window of the burned house.
The demolition Crew
Five minutes after I made my last image and Luisa returned to her trailer, the demolition crew arrived with backhoes and dump trucks. Within the next 20 minutes, engines roared and vehicles beeped as equipment maneuvered back and forth smashing into walls, gobbling up soil and debris and dumping it into trucks. Finally, the old adobe house with all its memories was leveled to the ground.
Nature’s Resilience
Although I am saddened by the devastation I observed and photographed as I traveled through Norther New Mexico, I continue to believe that nature and humans are resilient. On some of my earliest trips to the burn area, I saw evidence of nature’s regrowth. Gambel oak poked through the ash laden soil. Green grass sprouted in the burn scar void. Wild flowers I had never seen before regained their root systems. A lacy red plant called Fetid Goose Feet formed a carpet that stretched as far as I could see.
Human Resilience
The firefighters must have known that faith in Northern New Mexico fosters resilience. Saving the churches was their top priority, and the churches still stand unscathed by flames. Villagers can gather again as a community to gain a spiritual perspective on the seemingly wanton spread of the fires. “We have our faith. We’ll get through it”, I often heard them say.
On the third Sunday of each month, the priest visits the San Jose Church in Upper Rociada, an area hard hit by the fire and floods. I decided to attend one of the services.
At the door I asked permission to join the congregation and was welcomed in. Sitting in the rear of the church, I had a good view of its beautiful sanctuary. I noticed that the pews are different and the zapato supports for the vigas are individually carved. The walls are mud plastered and religious statues adorn the space.
At the end of mass, I stayed to talk to the priest and some of the lingering congregants. They told me the church was constructed in the late 1800’s when timber and ranching settlers migrated to the area. The church was a binding spiritual force in their community. In 1986, because the west wall had slumped and was dangerously near collapse, the church was closed.
From 1987 to 1994, with the technical assistance of Cornerstones Community Partnership, an historic preservation organization, the community members worked together to repair and preserve the church. The San Jose church is now a reprieve for the 20 Rociada families, descendants of the original settlers, who demonstrate their resilience by praying together to seek spiritual understanding of the disastrous fires that ravaged their homes and land.
New Mexico
Learning From the Fires
My journeys through northern New Mexico in the aftermath of the fire and floods helped me to grasp what had happened in Northern New Mexico. My photography helped me to process the sadness I felt about my wounded homeland.
The Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire was the largest and most devastating fire in New Mexico’s history. Although nature and humans are resilient, there is a limit to what nature and humans can tolerate and for how long.
The climate change that precipitated the drought and heat that sparked the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon fire was human caused. We cannot blame the forest service alone. We are all responsible in our own small ways of climate change avoidance.
In addition, the New Mexico fire story is not about New Mexico alone. It is about our global community. The New Mexico fire story serves as a case study in the consequences of climate change, whether those consequences are fires, floods, hurricanes or drought in our state or in the world at large. Climate change must concern us all.