the high risk of a large scale wildfire leads rangers to shut down a good part of the cibola national forest. the decision was made in hopes of preventing the cause of some of the largest fires in the state's history. stuart dysons spoke with forest officials to find out more. " fire danger in the mountains east of albuquerque is very high - smokey says so - and it's getting higher with every degree of warmer temperatures and every percentage point of dropping humidity." and some people just don't get it - the vast majority of wildfires are people-caused - minute thumbnail 05:16 pm that's why forest rangers are shutting off public access to trails and campsites and picnic areas in the manzano mountains and the gallinas range over by corona - they're watching things like humidity and temperature and fuel conditons - they call it the energy release component. " with the energy component it's up in the 90s here - down in mountainair it's over a hundred - it's basically off the charts - so we have the possibility of getting a large scale wildfire if we get a start that we can't stop right away." " to date when it comes to new mexico's large fires only 2 of the 54 large fires have been lightning caused - another half dozen are still under investigation but the lion's share obviously are human caused fires." with summer rains maybe six to eight weeks away wildfires have already barbecued close to 338 thousand acres in new mexico. " the closures in the manzanos are minute thumbnail 05:17 pm expected to start tomorrow and be complete on wednesday - all campgrounds - picnic areas - and trails will be totally off limits - further north the manzanitas and sandias will remain under fire restrictions - in tijeras stuart dyson k-o-b eyewitness news four." the upcoming monsoons may bring some much needed relief from these dry weather conditions. stuart dyson will have more on that coming up tonight at six.
