fire at last chance/sitting bull?

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Yes, there is a 40,000+ acre wildfire which started yesterday afternoon. They had 5 heavy airtankers and a helitanker on the incident last night. It is believed to have been started by an abandoned campfire right near the climbing area.
Due to the abundance of archeological resources in these caves, climbers were already fortunate to have access to this area.
I know the climbing area is closed right now and guess it will be for the coming week or two at a minimum.

Google "Inciweb" - "Last Chance Fire" for more info.

Please be very careful with fire, particularly until the monsoons arrive (usually in early to mid July).

A quick review of the fire map looks pretty bad, both Last Chance and Sitting Bull are in the burn area. Before all this, it appeared that some parts around Last Chance had burned sometime in the past. The apparent source of the fire doesn't look good at all and we can only hope that it was some non-climber who was disastrously careless in this case.

My climbing partners and I were camped 2 campsites south of where the fire originated on Sunday morning. The climbers who occupied the campsite that morning have been identified and an investigation is underway. We were lucky that we were upwind from the fire, as it spread extremely fast (approximately 5 acres within a few minutes) and we would not have been able to escape without, at the very least, losing all of our belongings. If it is dry and 50+ mph winds, be extremely cautious about fire. Don’t start a campfire at night. Keep a close eye on your containerized stoves/cooking/cigarette butts. It’s not only access we should be worried about, but the thousands of people whose livelihood (and lives) have been endangered as a result of this wildfire. Please be careful out there.

If you have any relavent information about the fire, please contact Special Investigator Terry McGaha at tmcgaha@fs.fed.us, or by calling him at (505) 842-3187

Also, the entier state except three counties to the north were under Camp Fire Ban!

Is there any new information on the situation? Heading home from Iraq in a week and trying to catch up on the local climbing conditions and fire warnings

It is my understanding that the entire Lincoln National Forest is currently closed to all public access due to the extreme fire potential. These restrictions will be lifted once adequate moisture is received in the area, which historically begins sometime around July 1st. Several other forests in New Mexico and Southern Arizona are facing similar conditions.

I've been told this fire was devestating to the deserts to the east of the climbing areas. Land Managers are concerned that with the steep slopes denuded of vegetation that rockslides will occur following any severe rain events such as the typical summer monsoons. I assume these climbing areas will be closed for at least the next several months or possibly far longer.

The local ranger district seems receptive to volunteer work, contact the Guadalupe Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest.

This fire burned around 54,000 acres (84 square miles) and cost several million dollars to fight. Please be careful with fire, particularly until the summer monsoons arrive.

Also, according to the investigator, the case has been solved and formal charges are pending. That is all the information he was allowed to give...