By Mary Perea The Associated Press
FENTON LAKE STATE PARK — Campers and homeowners were evacuated Monday near Fenton Lake State Park, where a wildfire in the Jemez Mountains grew to 2,000 acres and burned four summer homes.
A plume of smoke from the Lakes Complex Fire could be seen at least 50 miles away in Albuquerque.
"It's traveling quite rapidly, spotting along the way," said Dolores Maese, a spokeswoman for the Santa Fe National Forest.
Evacuations began in a community called Seven Springs, which Maese described as a large residential area — "I would say a few hundred homes."
Fire information officer Rita Skinner said the summer homes that burned were south of Fenton Lake.
Fenton Lake State Park, a residential area called Seven Springs and Thompson Ridge have been evacuated. Skinner said she could not say how many people were affected by the evacuations.
Many firefighters are stationed in the Pacific Northwest for fires up there, and "this time of year we don't have a lot of resources in this area," Skinner said.
N.M. 126 from La Cueva to Cuba is closed, she said.
The fire was moving north Monday afternoon with wind from the south at 10-15 mph, fire officials said.
It was not immediately known what caused the fire. Maese said there were no reports of lightning.
The fire is about 50 miles west of Los Alamos, where the Cerro Grande wildfire burned nearly 43,000 acres and destroyed over 200 homes in 2000.
A second fire Monday in the Santa Fe National Forest, the Labor Fire, was at about 75 acres, but was not threatening any homes or private land, Skinner said. That blaze was burning near the Valles Caldera National Preserve.
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