Dark Canyon Fire grows to 420 acres

The Dark Canyon fire nine miles northwest of Capitan has grown to 420 acres.

Thef fire was ignited by lightning strike Aug.4. 

The fire is in a remote part of the Smokey Bear Ranger District in the Lincoln National Forest near Tuscon Mountain.

There are no structures at risk and no active evacuations.

Firefighters are using a technique known as backburning.

"It involves setting a controlled fire in the path of the approaching wildfire," a Lincoln National Forest press release states.

The fire is on Lincoln National Forest lands.

The Dark Canyon Fire is the kind of low-intensity fire that was a normal part of the American southwest ecosystem. These kinds of fires happened every 10-35 years.

Updates about the Dark Canyon Fire will be reported daily to InciWeb Incident Information System website and to New Mexico Fire Info website.

Daily updates will continue until they are no longer needed, the press release states.

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Nicole Maxwell can be contacted by email at nmaxwell@alamogordonews.com, by phone at 575-415-6605 or on Twitter at @nicmaxreporter.