This fire started with a tragedy: a medical transport plane crashed in the mountains near Ruidoso, killing all four people aboard, and the resulting fire burned nearly 32,000 acres over the next month. NWA graded the federal suppression effort on nine elements, from national policy down to the crews on the line. The short version: the firefighters did their jobs well, the agency was honest about the basics but not the hard calls, and one costly strategy decision in May made this fire much bigger than it needed to be — a decision the incoming command team then worked hard to correct.
1Leader's Intent Alignment
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz told every forest, in writing, to keep new fires small. That message reached this fire as a talking point, not as a binding order with someone checking that the strategy actually matched it.
2Incident Commander Objective-Setting
The daily orders given to crews were clear and specific — no confusion there. The problem was what they ordered: a strategy built around burning out containment lines rather than stopping the fire directly, which drifted from the "keep it small" instruction from the top.
3Field-Level Understanding & Execution
The firefighters on this incident did their jobs. They understood their assignments and carried them out safely and competently. When an order is questionable, the crews following it professionally are not the ones who earn a bad grade — that belongs to whoever wrote the order.
4Suppression Tactics & Strategy
A two-day burnout operation in late May grew the fire by roughly 7,000 acres — close to a third of its final size — when direct attack earlier in the fire's run was likely achievable. The team that took command afterward shifted to smaller, more disciplined tactics and helped push containment sharply higher: a real, well-handled course correction.
5Resources Expended
Over 1,000 personnel and multiple air tankers were put to good use overall. The exception: eight elite hotshot crews were assigned to expand the fire's containment lines rather than attack it directly — a costly use of the most highly trained resource in wildland fire.
6Off-Site & Community Impacts
Evacuations and forest closures were ultimately handled well, with good coordination between the incident team and local emergency officials. Public notice of the fire's fastest growth periods lagged behind what was actually happening on the ground.
7Post-Fire Recovery & BAER Response
The best mark on this report card. The Burned Area Emergency Response team completed its soil and watershed damage assessment quickly and professionally — exactly the standard every fire should meet.
8Risk Management & Safety
No firefighter injuries or unsafe conditions were reported during suppression operations — a real credit to the crews and safety officers involved. What wasn't explained publicly: the trade-off of burning more forest now against the risk of a bigger fire later.
9Truthful Presentation
Basic facts — acreage, containment, closures — were reported accurately and on schedule. The reasoning behind the big strategic decisions was not explained to the public at the time they were made.
How this grade was reached
NWA's Independent Fire Review Panel graded this incident using the public incident record — Incident Action Plans, InciWeb and NIFC situation reports, the Lincoln National Forest's closure and BAER releases, and contemporaneous news coverage — cross-checked against the U.S. Forest Service's and U.S. Wildland Fire Service's own stated 2026 commitment to aggressive, full suppression. Grades: A = Exemplary, B = Strong execution, C = Acceptable but needs improvement, D = Significant shortfalls, F = Unacceptable.