Jemez Mountain blaze burns over 600 acres
Cajete Fire threatens hundreds of buildings, forces hundreds to evacuate
The Cajete Fire that ignited in the Jemez Mountains on Thursday morning quickly grew to more than 600 acres, threatening to destroy about 300 buildings and causing road closures and evacuations of residents in remote Sandoval County communities along N.M. 4, a highway winding through a mountain range that has seen devastating wildfires in recent years.
Officials said flames had jumped the roadway. As of Thursday evening, the fire was zero percent contained.
By midday, thick, white smoke was billowing high over mountain ridges still bearing the scars of past forest fires.
The Pojoaque Valley filled with a dull, gray haze, and the
slow-moving tufts of smoke, visible for miles, permeated the air with a sickly charred smell. Forest officials issued warnings about poor air quality throughout the region.
The blaze was first reported around 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Gov. Susana Martinez announced hours later that she had activated the state’s Emergency Operations Center to assist local and federal agencies in coordinating the firefighting efforts.
About 175 firefighters were battling the fire by Thursday evening, along with a Type 1 helicopter — usually deployed to the most severe blazes — and air tankers. More teams were expected to arrive Friday, said officials with the Santa Fe National Forest.
The Sandoval County Fire Department evacuated about 200 people from communities closest to the burn, including Los Griegos, Sierra de los Pinos and the Ruby Holt Plat along N.M. 4, not far from the Valles Caldera National Preserve, said Laura Taylor, a Sandoval County spokeswoman.
Forest officials said more evacuations could be necessary, depending on the fire’s behavior.
Emergency management agencies advised residents who might need to evacuate to take only the “five P’s”: people, important papers, prescriptions, family pictures and pets.
For long-term residents of the area, the process has become almost routine.
“I’m not worried about the property,” said Robert Hand, who was parked near a roadblock on the side of N.M. 4 with his wife, waiting for an official to escort them to their home near the Bandelier National Monument so they could pack a bag and check on their animals.
“This is just a hiccup in the road of life,” Hand said.
The couple lost their barn and a shed full of all-terrain vehicles in 2011, during the massive Los Conchas Fire.
The Cajete Fire apparently started near the southwest corner of the Valles Caldera, southeast of La Cueva and northeast of Jemez Springs, though forest managers didn’t yet know the cause.
“Contrary to some reports,” said a statement from forest officials, “it was not caused by a prescribed fire. No federal agencies are conducting prescribed fires now that we have entered fire season.”
Earlier this week, forest officials issued a news release reminding campers that fire season is well underway and that the dangers of wildfire from unattended campfires was high. Last weekend, the release said, fire prevention patrols on the Jemez District of the forest found 13 abandoned campfires.
Julie Anne Overton, a spokeswoman for the Santa Fe National Forest, said Thursday the Cajete Fire was moving east toward Los Griegos Mountain and, ultimately, Los Alamos, and was spitting small fires ahead of its path.
Overton said the area is a complex mix of wildlands and private property, including ranches and permanent homes.
“If it gets established on Los Griegos Mountain, we are concerned about that,” she said. “We are trying to hang on to the anchor. We are trying to keep it from getting there.”
If the fire surpasses Los Griegos Mountain, she said, it will hit burn scars from the Thompson Ridge Fire in 2013 and the Las Conchas Fire, which are expected to slow it down before it becomes a threat to the community of Los Alamos and the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where vast quantities of radioactive waste are buried and stored at sites both below and above ground.
The Los Alamos Police Department closed West Jemez Road at N.M. 4, which borders Bandelier National Monument and the southern access route to Los Alamos National Laboratory, to ease traffic for people being evacuated, said Julie Habiger, a spokeswoman for Los Alamos County.
State police closed N.M. 4 at the intersection with N.M. 501.
On the other side of the Jemez Mountains, state police blocked N.M. 4 northeast of Jemez Springs. An officer on the scene said it would remain closed “indefinitely” and declined all other questions.
Damon Hosford, who stood chatting with an officer at the roadblock about an hour before night fell, said he was trying to locate his father, a Sierra de los Pinos resident who had called around noon saying he was going to evacuate but hadn’t yet shown up at Hosford’s home in La Cueva.
Still, Hosford, who has lived in the area since 1981, said he wasn’t too worried, because his father is a former firefighter.
Pastor Eric Larson at the Jemez Mountain Baptist Church in Jemez Springs said about 50 evacuees had passed through the church Thursday, but many continued on to Bernalillo or elsewhere to stay with family or in hotels. Larson said he was asking people to sign in even if they don’t stay, in case family members call looking for them.
Day-use shelters at Fenton Lake State Park are also available for evacuees.
“New Mexicans know better than most just how devastating wildfires can be, and as we face this year’s fire season together, we’re also reminding everyone to keep safety in mind and be prepared,” Gov. Martinez said in a statement.
Larson, who worked with evacuees after hurricanes Ike and Katrina, said the church has been holding fire preparedness workshops for the past seven years because, he said, “our experience has been a community that is prepared is much faster to respond and recuperate.”