The investigation into the cause of the Dog Head Fire, which burned nearly 18,000 acres in June, is complete, but the report will not be released just yet.
Donna Nemeth, a spokeswoman for the Cibola National Forest, said this week that Forest Service attorneys are currently reviewing the report, and it will not be available to the public until late August at the earliest.
Preliminary findings released July 1 indicated that the wildfire in the Manzano Mountains was likely started June 14 by a masticator, a forest thinning machine that grinds and shreds trees, dead wood, brush and other fuel as it moves across the ground in an attempt to prevent exactly the kind of wildfire that it may have started.
The masticator was being operated by a crew from Isleta Pueblo as part of a joint effort among the pueblo, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Chilili Land Grant.
A number of questions asked during a news conference, when the preliminary findings were released, have yet to be answered.