Rayado Mesa Fire

Colfax County, New Mexico · Wildfire

Contained Official numbers updated Sep 17, 2026 (about 3 hours ago)
First reported about 7 weeks ago
Metric Now
Size
934 acres
Sep 17, 4:00 PM
+534 acres
was 400 acres · Jul 28, 8:01 PM
Containment
100%
Sep 17, 4:00 PM
+10 percent
was 90% · Aug 11, 8:01 PM
Crew size
58
Sep 17, 4:00 PM
+21
was 37 · Aug 8, 5:00 PM
Money spent
$1.2M
Sep 17, 4:00 PM
+$298,137
was $950,000 · Aug 7, 10:00 AM

Rayado Mesa Fire and other nearby fires

🔥 Where this fire started Mostly contained Partly contained Containment not reported

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Rayado Mesa Fire summary

The Rayado Mesa Fire is a wildfire near Colfax County, New Mexico. It has burned about 934 acres (about 708 football fields). Crews have it fully contained, with a line all the way around it. It was first reported about 7 weeks ago. About 58 people are on it, run by a Type 4 IC. We're also tracking 8 other active fires within about 75 miles.

Size
934 acres
Containment
100%
Discovered
July 27, 2026 (first reported about 7 weeks ago)
Cause
Not reported

The size and containment above are current as of Thursday, September 17th at 4:00 p.m. CDT.

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Weather & fire-spread conditions

No Red Flag Warning. The National Weather Service hasn't flagged this area for dangerous fire-spread conditions right now.

Hot, dry, and windy weather can help a fire grow; cool, calm, or wet weather helps crews. The tags below rate each day for fire spread — green is calm, red can push a fire.

A general fire-weather guide (wind matters most, then how dry it is, then heat), not a prediction of what a specific fire will do.

Day Night
This Afternoon
74°F · Scattered Showers And Thunderstorms
Wind 20 to 25 mph S · 59% rain
Wind: Windy Heat: Cool Rain likely
56°F · Scattered Showers And Thunderstorms
Wind 10 to 15 mph SW · 49% rain
Wind: Breezy Heat: Cool Some rain
Friday
77°F · Isolated Rain Showers then Scattered Showers And Thunderstorms
Wind 5 to 15 mph SW · 39% rain
Wind: Breezy Heat: Warm Some rain
53°F · Isolated Showers And Thunderstorms then Mostly Cloudy
Wind 5 to 15 mph SW · 19% rain
Wind: Breezy Heat: Cool Dry
Saturday
78°F · Mostly Sunny then Isolated Showers And Thunderstorms
Wind 5 to 15 mph SW · 20% rain
Wind: Breezy Heat: Warm Some rain
—

Forecast from the National Weather Service (weather.gov), pulled Thursday, September 17th at 4:01 p.m. CDT.

Could this fire move fast?

Weather isn't the only thing that changes how a fire moves. The ground matters too: how steep it is, and what's growing on it. These four numbers are for the exact spot where this fire started, not the whole fire. A big fire crosses a lot of different ground.

1° slope

Fire usually moves faster uphill than downhill. Heat and flame lean uphill, drying out the ground above the fire before it gets there.

0% tree canopy cover

The more tree cover above a fire, the easier it is for the fire to climb from the ground into the treetops. That's called a crown fire. Crown fires move faster, throw embers farther ahead of the fire, and are harder for crews to stop head-on.

7,578 ft elevation

Elevation by itself doesn't make a fire more or less dangerous. But it shapes the other three numbers here: what grows there, how dry things get, and what the weather does.

Elevation and slope from the USGS 3D Elevation Program; fuel type and canopy cover from LANDFIRE (USGS and U.S. Forest Service), pulled Thursday, September 17th at 2:06 p.m. CDT.

Who's on it

About 58 people are assigned to this fire, run by a Type 4 IC. About $1 million has been spent on it so far.

The official feed reports the total headcount, not a breakdown by crew type.

Where to get live updates

We show the daily official picture. For minute-by-minute updates, evacuation orders, and maps, these do it best:

Nearby fires to Rayado Mesa Fire

Within about 75 miles we're tracking 8 other active fires, closest first:

See all active fires in New Mexico →

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