The Forest Service fire lookout is watching the largest wildfire in New Mexico's history and grieving the landscape he knows and loves.
Steve INSKEEP is the host.
The fire watcher is talking to us. PhilipConnors works in a watchtower.
The essence of the job is to stay awake, look out the window, and alert the dispatch office if you see smoke.
He has seen a lot of smoke over the national forest. Connors is a fire watcher. He witnessed a fire that has burned more than 300,000 acres. It took us 20 hours to get through to him.
The signal is affected by smoke and windy days.
He told us what it was like to watch his world burn. He is in a small room on top of a tower.
What are you looking at?
The largest fire this forest has ever seen is burning in the distance to my south. There is a burn scar in my foreground which burned a few weeks ago.
He has two towers this season. When the fire got too close, he had to flee.
There was a fire on May 13 I watched it grow a little bit. I sat and watched the megafire cross 200,000 acres. It's true. It was kind of an exercise to live in the presence of something that would eventually force me to leave. It's just this presence on your horizon that makes you start dreaming about it. I would climb the tower at night. Nine miles of my northern horizon would light up with fire. I had enough time to pack up all my things. I and my relief lookout went out together. I hugged some of my favorites before I left.
In the areas that are not burned, what is the forest like?
It's a lot of forests, depending on its elevation. The highest altitudes have historically been mixed conifers with aspen. There is a type of pine and oak belt below that.
There is a radio show about radio statistics.
The person spoke inaudible.
There's my radio. I'm turning that down.
It's okay. Take a call if you have to.
I don't have to do that. I eavesdrop on everyone in the forest.
Did you hear anything of interest?
This morning, most people just go in service and tell dispatch where they're going to be so they can be tracked. In the next hour, things will really get going here.
It's time to go on.
The mixed conifer, which is usually burned in stand replacement fires that burn a few hundred or a few thousand acres, is going away in much larger chunks. The forest is disappearing from this part of the world.
One of the questions that I was thinking about was you. You're telling me that fire is part of the normal life cycle of the forest, but that things are changing over the last two decades.
That's correct. According to scientists who study tree rings, my arrival in this part of the world coincides with the start of the worst megadrought we have seen in a long time. The climate in this part of the world had been stable for hundreds of years. It's not wet. When I showed up for my first day of work in late March and hiked up to my tower at 10,000 feet, I saw trees that had just fallen over. The roots didn't have the strength to hold the earth because they didn't have enough water.
That explains why a lot can burn.
It's true, Conrads. The oldest trees at the highest elevation were snowed in in late March. I was looking for water in the holes created by the balls of the tipped over trees. I was unable to find any in the soil. I could use the root tendrils to type in my wood stove. When I first went to open the tower, I noticed that I was sending up little puffs of powder from the soil as I hiked up the trail. I hadn't seen that time of year before.
I can tell you that this is more than just a job for you.
Not after 20 years according to Conrads. I thought of it as a paid writing retreat.
INSKEEP: That's correct
Conrads said that it is. Over time, I fell in love with the place and all it has to offer, from the salamanders to the deer and black bears. The place became my fortress and my refuge. The tables are almost turned. It needs solace because a lot of it is being transformed. I feel a deep sense of responsibility to stay with it and watch how the burn heals and what it wants to become.
Mr.Connors, thank you for taking the time to talk with us.
Conrads thanks Steve. It was enjoyable for me.
PhilipConnors is a writer and a fire watcher in New Mexico.
"Waking" is a song written by Natalia Anderson.
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