National Weather Service Forecast Office

Fire Weather Image

The following is a comprehensive summary of the new Fire Weather Service Areas for the NWS offices which serve New Mexico. Note the changes in zone numbering, zone boundaries and small changes to the area of responsibility. This change will take place April 28, 2005. NWS offices have primary customer liaison, spot forecast and Red Flag Warning/Fire Weather Watch responsibility for their Fire Weather Service Areas.

ABQ NWS Taos (TAZ), Santa Fe (SNZ), Albuquerque (ABZ), and a small portion of the Gila (GLZ) dispatch zone/s (Socorro BLM). Some of the Agencies and locations served include:
In TAZ...	In SNZ...	In ABZ...
USFS - Carson National Forest	USFS - Santa Fe National Forest	USFS - Cibola National Forest
BLM - Farmington and Taos field offices	BLM - Albuquerque and Taos	BLM - Albuquerque, Socorro, Farmington and small portion of Roswell field office/s
NPS - Capulin Volcano NM	NPS - Bandelier NM	NPS - El Malpais and El Morro NM
BIA - Jicarilla, Northern Pueblos and Navajo	BIA - Southern Pueblos	BIA - Zuni, Laguna, Ramah and Southern Pueblos
NMSF- Chama and Cimarron districts	NMSF - Bernalillo and Las Vegas districts	NMSF - Bernalillo, Socorro and small portion of Las Vegas and Capitan districts
		USFWS - Sevilleta and Bosque del Apache NWR

MAF NWS Portion of Lincoln dispatch zone (LNZ) served by the Pecos Valley dispatch out of Roswell. This includes the southeast plains of New Mexico and the Guadalupe mountains. Some of the agencies and locations served include:
	In LNZ...
	USFS - Lincoln National Forest/Guadalupe RD
	USFWS - Bitter Lake NWR
	BLM - Roswell field office
	NPS - Carlsbad Caverns NP
	NMSF - Portion of Capitan district served by Pecos Valley Dispatch

EPZ NWS Most of the Gila dispatch zone (GLZ) and the portion of Lincoln zone (LNZ) not served by MAF (basically Lincoln and Otero counties). Some of the agencies and locations served include:
In GLZ...	In LNZ...
USFS - Gila National Forest and small portion of Coronado and Apache National Forests	USFS - Lincoln National Forest / Cloudcroft and Smokey Bear RDs
USFWS - San Andreas NWR	NPS - White Sands NM
BLM - Las Cruces field office	BIA - Mescalero Agency
NPS - Gila Cliff Dwellings NM	NMSF - Portion of Capitan District in Lincoln and Otero counties
NMSF - Socorro District

The following table and maps illustrate the Routine Fire Weather Narrative (FWF) and NFDRS forecast responsibilities of each weather service office. It is hopeful in the future (perhaps 2006) that NFDRS and FWF forecast zones will be one of the same. GIS shapefiles with the new zones can be downloaded at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/geodata/catalog/wsom/html/firezone.htm (Select the 28 April 2005 fz07mr05.zip entry...this will download the shapefile for the entire nation.)
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Old vs New Fire Weather Zones		New Fire Weather Zones

NWS Office	Fire Weather Narrative Zones	NFDRS Zones
ABQ	101 through 109	314, 318, 322, 326, 330, 340, 368
EPZ	110 through 113	364, 370, 380
MAF	114 and 115	350

For further information please see the NWS Service Change Notice.

If you have any questions regarding fire weather services provided by the NWS, please contact one of the following individuals:
	Brent Wachter, ABQ - IMET/Fire Weather Program Leader
	Greg Murdoch, MAF - Fire Weather Program Leader
	Tom Bird, EPZ - IMET/Fire Weather Program Leader
	Paul Witsaman - Regional Fire Weather Program Manager

(please refer to the SWA operating plan for additional contact information)