Any day red flags fly at Santa Fe National Forest offices in the next few months means one thing: high wildfire risks.

Forest Service offices around the state will hoist the flags whenever the National Weather Service issues a red flag warning for high winds, according to Dolores Maese, public information officer for Santa Fe National Forest.

The real fire season doesn't typically begin until early May, but already, wildland firefighters have fought and controlled one blaze on national forest land in the Jemez Mountains near Gilman, a human-caused fire pushed by high winds.

"(Fire officials) are tending to say this will be a normal fire season," Maese said. A "normal" season in the past meant firefighters fought dozens of fires — both human- and lightning-caused — through the summer.

Maese said fire staff members are keeping a close eye on conditions already as the soils dry up at lower elevations and warm weather brings campers, hunters and other recreationists back into the forests.

The spring also offers a brief window of opportunity for forest staff members to conduct prescribed, controlled burns to reduce the amount of forest materials and the risk of catastrophic fires.

"Above normal" significant fire potential is predicted in the grasslands of southeastern New Mexico and other portions of the Western states, according to a report issued this week by the National Interagency Fire Center.

Annual spring burning of fields and along acequia ditches has prompted Carson National Forest to issue a warning to farmers and irrigators. The winter moisture will prompt an increase in grasses, weeds and other "fine fuels" that carry fire quickly, according to Carson National Forest public information officer Kathy De Lucas.

Fire officials have warned farmers not to leave burning fields unattended and to check weather conditions before burning. They also recommend clearing away a swath of land around the perimeter of a field before burning to prevent a fire from escaping.

Homeowners are urged to move wood piles, trash and brush from near their homes, and to trim back branches near structures.

For information on prescribed burns, call 1-877-971-FIRE (3473).

Information about New Mexico fires and links to other fire sites is available at www.nmfireinfo.com.

For updated red flag warnings, see the National Weather Service map at www.srh.noaa.gov/abq/.