After lightning ignited a small fire on Rowe Mesa southeast of Santa Fe, Santa Fe National Forest managers decided to expand the blaze into a much larger “controlled burn” rather than extinguish it immediately.
The Palmer Fire began Sept. 12 in a mostly grassy meadow speckled with ponderosa pine and piñon-juniper, between the Pecos and Las Vegas ranger districts.
The fire covered just 35 acres, but the Forest Service said it intends to vastly increase the burn to 11,500 acres.
“Fire crews will take necessary steps to protect nearby private property and infrastructure on two grazing allotments,” Santa Fe National Forest spokeswoman Julie Anne Overton said in a news release.