Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Welcome! We hope that you enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Thank you for signing in! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Checking back? Since you viewed this item previously you can read it again.
Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
Your current subscription does not provide access to this content.
Unlimited access to the Taos News website for a full year! Plan includes access to our e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
Unlimited access to the Taos News website for 30 days. Plan includes access to our e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
Unlimited access to the Taos News website for 30 days. Plan includes access to our e-edition print replica online. This is a one-time purchase. Your subscription will not renew.
We offer home delivery of the Taos News in selected areas within Taos. Click Here to See if you Qualify (Shaded area on map only). (this subscription option includes unlimited digital access). Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for a full year! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for 26 weeks! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your New Mexico state residence every week for a full year! For readers who live in New Mexico but outside of Taos County. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your New Mexico state residence every week for 26 weeks! For readers who live in New Mexico but outside of Taos County. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your New Mexico state residence every week for 26 weeks! For readers who live in New Mexico but outside of Taos County. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your New Mexico state residence every week for 13 weeks! For readers who live in New Mexico but outside of Taos County. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your New Mexico state residence every week for 13 weeks! For readers who live in New Mexico but outside of Taos County. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your out of state residence every week for a full year! Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your out of state residence every week for 26 weeks! Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your out of state residence every week for 26 weeks! Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your out of state residence every week for 13 weeks! Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
The Taos News mailed to your out of state residence every week for 13 weeks! Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
You'll receive FIVE of our top national magazines, including Discover Taos Winter Edition, Discover Taos Summer Edition, Taos Gallery Guide, Fall Festivals, and Best of Taos, delivered to your home address anywhere in the US for the special low rate of $55.
In addition, you'll receive access for a full year to all content on TaosNews.com, including the e-edition digital replica, and a weekly digest of what's happening in arts and entertainment in Taos!
The Taos News delivered to your Taos County address every week for 26 weeks! We offer our lowest mail rates to zip codes in the county. Click Here to See if you Qualify. Plan includes unlimited website access and e-edition print replica online. Your auto pay plan will be conveniently renewed at the end of the subscription period. You may cancel at anytime.
Sorry, no promotional deals were found matching that code.
Promotional Rates were found for your code.
Rain showers in the morning with thunderstorms developing for the afternoon. High 72F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..
Thunderstorms this evening, then cloudy with rain likely overnight. Potential for heavy rainfall. Low 52F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Wildland fire response crew with Salmon Heli-rappellers from Idaho prepare to take off for a mission fighting the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Tuesday (May 24).
Heli-rappellers work on proficiency training during down time at the Taos Municipal Airport on Friday (May 27).
Heli-rappellers work on proficiency training during down time at the Taos Municipal Airport on Friday (May 27).
Heli-rappellers run through a pre-mission safety check before spending the day fighting the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Tuesday (May 24) at Taos Airport.
Heli-rapeller Matthew Dunagan, right, puts on equipment before a mission on Tuesday (May 24).
Salmon Heli-rappellers crew captain Justin Cavasso, left, conducts a pre-flight safety procedure with heli-rappeller Colin Albright Tuesday (May 24) at Taos Airport.
Wildland fire response crew with Salmon Heli-rappellers from Idaho prepare to take off for a mission fighting the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Tuesday (May 24).
Wildland fire response crew with Salmon Heli-rappellers from Idaho take off for a mission from Taos to fight the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Tuesday (May 24).
Heli-rapeller Matthew Dunagan prepares for a mission on Tuesday (May 24) to fight the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire in Northern New Mexico.
Wildland fire response crew with Salmon Heli-rappellers from Idaho prepare to take off for a mission fighting the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Tuesday (May 24).
Heli-rappellers work on proficiency training during down time at the Taos Municipal Airport on Friday (May 27).
Heli-rappellers work on proficiency training during down time at the Taos Municipal Airport on Friday (May 27).
Heli-rappellers run through a pre-mission safety check before spending the day fighting the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Tuesday (May 24) at Taos Airport.
Heli-rapeller Matthew Dunagan, right, puts on equipment before a mission on Tuesday (May 24).
Salmon Heli-rappellers crew captain Justin Cavasso, left, conducts a pre-flight safety procedure with heli-rappeller Colin Albright Tuesday (May 24) at Taos Airport.
Wildland fire response crew with Salmon Heli-rappellers from Idaho prepare to take off for a mission fighting the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Tuesday (May 24).
Wildland fire response crew with Salmon Heli-rappellers from Idaho take off for a mission from Taos to fight the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire on Tuesday (May 24).
Heli-rapeller Matthew Dunagan prepares for a mission on Tuesday (May 24) to fight the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire in Northern New Mexico.
Wildland firefighter "heli-rappellers" stationed at the Taos Municipal Airport have made a significant, if not extensively-chronicled, contribution to the 3,000-person effort to tame the massive Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire.
Although they wear the familiar green and yellow wildland firefighter Nomex uniform, they're rarely seen as they drop from helicopters into remote areas to fight wildfires.
"A lot of us are behind-the-scenes types, we're not the people in the headlines," said heli-rappeller Matthew Dunagan, a member of the crew of heli-rappellers deployed here from Salmon, Idaho. "But the more people know about heli-rappellers, the better we can be used."
Currently, there are 12 heli-rappeller bases in the United States. New Mexico doesn't have a base, and heli-rappellers from elsewhere find themselves deployed here — and elsewhere across the country from Florida to Alaska — quite regularly during wildfire season.
"We're a national resource," Dunagon said.
While the planes and helicopters that drop thousands of gallons of fire retardant and water on wildfires may capture the public's attention, they are only one part of what wildland fire officials refer to as "air support."
Equally important are other, less-visible aerial components to wildland firefighting, such as aircraft that scan for and map specific locations of heat within the fire area, and the strategists who dial in that information to direct ground crews on "seek and destroy" missions to eliminate spot fires, for example. Aircraft and personnel are also on standby in case the need arises for emergency evacuations of firefighters.
"The common perception is that aircraft put out fires, and they absolutely don't," said Sean Cox, an air operations branch director on the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire. "Aviation is always used to enhance the ground operations. Rarely, if ever, is aviation the sole suppression mechanism for wildfires."
During high-wind events, water and retardant drops are often impractical, Cox said, noting that favorable flight conditions over the past eight weeks had nonetheless allowed air crews to scoop up and drop nearly six million gallons of water over the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire.
On May 21, for example, aircraft dropped 1.38 million gallons of water and 1.3 million gallons of retardant over the fire. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — which oversees the U.S. Forest Service — retardant is mainly composed of water mixed with fertilizer salts and coloring.
"Everyone likes the photos of air tank tankers dropping water on these wind-driven fires, but it's all a huge waste of resources at that point, because you're trying to compensate for the wind and hoping I'm hitting the target," Cox said.
Trained to drop from helicopters into inaccessible areas inside a wildfire zone, Dunagan and his fellow heli-rappellers have been particularly key to fighting the piece of the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire burning around Jicarita Peak east of Peñasco, an area fire officials have dubbed "Thumb's Thumb."
"It's [a] super-tough piece of ground," where steep slopes, deadfall and thick brush make for extremely dangerous conditions for ground crews, Cox said.
Heli-rappellers hit the ground, then work for two to three days creating helicopter landing spots and deploying fire containment and suppression strategies on the ground in concert with Hotshot crews and other ground resources.
The specially-trained firefighters work in pairs of firefighters called "sticks." Typically, two sticks deploy in a single flight, also carrying hundreds of pounds of equipment like chainsaws, food and water. Because of warm weather conditions and the altitude of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, heli-rappellers working in the Thumb's Thumb area have sometimes had to deploy "one-stick-at-a-time."
"Whenever they're up higher, at 11,000-plus-feet, the lifting capacity of this aircraft is diminished," said Ronnie Oropeza, a former rappel crew member and public information officer with one of the incident management teams assigned to the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire. Last week, heli-rappellers stationed at Taos Municipal Airport may have made history.
"It might be one of the highest rappels that they've ever done — it was 11,500 feet," said Justin Cavasso, captain of the Salmon, Idaho heli-rappeller team.
Cavasso looked across the tarmac last Friday (May 27) toward Jicarita Peak, clearly visible in the distance, as a call came over the radio.
"We got another rappel mission," he told his crew. "From what we're looking at, and we gotta go look at this area on the backside of those peaks, this Serpent Lake country is 11,800 feet above sea level — It's almost 12,000 feet."
What's it like to rappel out of a deafeningly-loud helicopter hovering just 500 feet above the ground, when the ground is within the peaks of the Sangre de Cristos?
"As soon as you're inverted, under the skids of the helicopter, it gets super quiet," said James Duarte. "It's just really a serene feeling."
"It takes about 15 seconds, it's not so long as you'd think," Dungeon said, adding with a laugh that last week's first rappel above 11,000 feet was "really cold."
When asked, Lewis Meyers told the Taos News that heli-rappellers as a rule aren't superstitious, but then remembered, "Actually, you know, there is something."
"When you're at rookie-academy, which for me was back in 2020, the first time they have you use a raptor knife, which is a something that's held on your harness for an emergency tie-off procedure if, for some reason, you can't get to the ground. You use that knife to cut away your slack so they could basically lift you to a safer location.
"They give you a knife and they let you practice on a dead piece of rope, which is basically rope that's been put out of service, and you cut that," Meyers said, indicating with his hands a length of about four-to-six inches. "And then that little piece of rope, you keep it on you. Everybody's got that on em. It's in one of my bags over there."
Check out the Salmon Heli-Rappellers webpage at salmonhelirappellers.com
Your comment has been submitted.
There was a problem reporting this.
All comment authors MUST use their real names. Posts that cannot be ascribed to a real person will not be moderated. Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.