Cerro Grande Fire remains burned into New Mexico's memory 20 years later

“They didn’t have enough people,” said Tom Ribe of Santa Fe, author of the 2010 book Inferno by Committee, which recounts the Cerro Grande Fire with a critical eye. “They needed to have two or three times the people on the prescribed fire from Day One.” Those overseeing the fire were in a hurry to get it done, which led to errors in judgment, said Ribe, a longtime public lands advocate.