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August 26, 2002
Lakes Fire Burns 2,500 Acres, Summer Homes
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 more than 2,500 acres and burned four summer homes.
A plume of smoke from the Lakes 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 of a few hundred homes. An area called Thompson Ridge also was evacuated.
Fire information officer Rita Skinner said the summer homes that burned were south of Fenton Lake and that structures in Seven Springs and Thompson Ridge were not immediately threatened by the flames.
Engines from surrounding county fire departments and local volunteer departments were stationed between the flames and the homes, Maese said.
"They're doing structure protection. They're pretty busy," she said late Monday.
Two air tankers made several drops of fire retardant on the Lakes Fire by nightfall. Ground crews could not get close enough to directly attack the flames, Maese said.
Two hot shot crews and 26 engines were assigned to the fire late Monday, and officials said more firefighters and equipment were expected to arrive Tuesday.
Doug Shuptrine, who has lived in Seven Springs for 10 years, packed medicine, food, clothes and his dog, Sassy, into his vehicle Monday and left.
"Before I left, I could see right down the canyon and the flames were leaping up the trees," he said. "That's when I knew it was time to get out."
Shuptrine said in May, a fire came to within a quarter mile of his home, but air tankers put it out in time.
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 was closed. Officials said the fire jumped the road late Monday and was headed north.
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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