Crews making progress on fires burning near Navajo Lake and Dulce

Mike Easterling, Farmington Daily Times
Updated ·2 min read

A fire burning northwest of Navajo Lake in far northern San Juan County had grown to 73 acres by Monday afternoon, fire officials said, but they expected crews battling the blaze to have it half contained by that evening.

The Lake Fire, which was started by a lightning strike on Aug. 2, is located on Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation land on Middle Mesa, according to a BLM news release. The blaze was 20% contained on Monday afternoon, but fire crews from the Farmington Fire Department, San Juan County Fire & Rescue and the U.S. Department of the Interior were making rapid progress and it was expected to be at 50% containment by the end of the day, the release states.

The fire was burning through juniper trees, grass and brush. The fire was not threatening any private residences, and no evacuations were expected, officials said.

The Lake Fire burning northwest of Navajo Lake in San Juan County had burned 73 acres by the afternoon of Aug. 7, according to federal officials.
The Lake Fire burning northwest of Navajo Lake in San Juan County had burned 73 acres by the afternoon of Aug. 7, according to federal officials.

Smoke from the fire was visible Monday from Arboles and Pagosa Spring, Colorado, as well as from U.S. Highway 550 and U.S. Highway 64.

A second blaze burning 16 miles southwest of Dulce nearly doubled in size on Monday, growing from 400 acres to 756. But fire crews brought it under 25% containment, up from just 8% on Sunday, according to a news release from the U.S. Forest Service.

The American Mesa Fire was reported on Aug. 5 and reportedly also was caused by a lightning strike.

“This fire really wanted to move,” Jicarilla Ranger District Duty Officer Brent Woffindin stated in the release , “but our crews worked hard to keep it at bay, and it paid off.”

A Type 3 incident management team was expected to take over the fire on Aug. 8, when weather conditions were expected to improve with higher humidity, lower temperatures and an increased chance of precipitation. The fire had burned through 756 acres and was 25% contained as of Tuesday morning.

Visit nmfireinfo.com for more information.

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.

This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Lake Fire and American Mesa Fire were both caused by lightning strikes