Smoke from fires in Arizona and New Mexico clogged the usually clear Cortez sky Wednesday morning.

According to Jeff Colton, the lead forecaster with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, the haze that has settled over the area is mostly coming from the Kaibab National Forest, 25 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Ariz.

Heavy steering winds from the southwest were picking up smoke from the 7,500 burnt acres, and from the 22,000 acres of ponderosa pine and mixed conifer burning five miles northwest of Pecos, N.M..

Despite red-flag warnings — a warning indicating low relative humidity, high daytime temperatures, strong winds, and/or threat of dry thunderstorms as well as low field moisture — public lands in Southwest Colorado have yet to be singed.

U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management Officials are not taking any chances, however.

According to Cary Newman, manager of the Durango Interagency Fire Dispatch Center, the San Juan public lands will likely be under fire restrictions by the weekend. Newman declined to say what restrictions would be imposed for the district, which includes the San Juan National Forest and the San Juan Bureau of Land Management district.

Prescribed burns have been banned by the U.S. Department of Interior after damage caused by fires near Los Alamos, N.M., earlier this month.

Montezuma, Dolores, La Plata, San Juan, and Archuleta counties are currently under fire restrictions.

In Montezuma County, the ban includes burning ditches, crop fields, and trash piles. No campfires will be allowed, and fires contained in an incinerator-type enclosure should be monitored closely.

"The public has been very good about not burning. At this point, our main concern is lightning," said Newman.

Public land agencies in Southwest Colorado have been under red-flag watches and warnings for the past five weeks.

Colton said that little relief is in sight for the area.

"Right now there are tinder box dry conditions down there (in the San Juans)," said Colton.

Colton added that there is sub-tropical moisture working up from the eastern Pacific, and a slight chance of rain for Friday, but any moisture gained won’t be enough to significantly change current conditions.

In addition to blazes in New Mexico and Arizona, there were also seven fires raging Wednesday in Colorado.

The nearest to Cortez was in the Grand Mesa-Uncompah-gre-Gunnison National Forest, just 20 miles north of Nucla.

Strong winds were pushing the fire to the northwest and northeast, but the fire had threatened no structures.

Several fires are also burning in the north, near Rangely on the Craig BLM unit, and one in Las Animas County, 24 miles west of Trinidad.

In addition, lightning sparked fire in brush and pinon-junipers 20 miles southeast of Moab, Utah. Six hundred acres were burned, and its smoke had spread as far as Grand Junction.