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The Desert Willow Complex Fire came as a surprise to residents on the afternoon of Saturday, June 21.
The response on the ground went about as well as could be, said Matthew Jaramillo, recreation supervisor for the village of Los Lunas.
“It was an incredible effort to support the families affected by the fires,” he said. “The Red Cross, Blue Cross Blue Shield, FEMA and the state all came in afterward. It was awesome to see everyone kick into gear.
“This was the first time we handled anything on this scale. Luckily, we’re very good at communicating in this organization and just made it happen.”
Jaramillo said the Daniel Fernandez Recreation Center was open 24 hours for the five days after the fires started in the bosque south of Main Street in Los Lunas. In the first nine hours of that Saturday, he said 60 people signed up for assistance and three to four families stayed at the center consistently.
“Everyone did a great job keeping everyone attended to,” he said. “Our recreation division people all came through. We even had street division guys coming in to help, it was a big effort to keep the place organized and get stuff out to people.”
During efforts to bring the fire under control on Saturday, 13 local firefighters were injured, with two being sent to the hospital.
Los Lunas Fire Chief John Gabaldon said the cause for all the injuries was heat-related.
“They’re all doing good,” Gabaldon said in a phone interview Monday. “Everyone is recovering well and on duty. The firefighters who went to the hospital were released after a couple of hours.”
Reports of looting in the area of the fire started popping up on social media over the weekend.
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Los Lunas Police Chief Frank Lucero said the department has only received one call for service, and the caller did not complete the incident report.
“We saw some posts on social media,” Lucero said. “We have been conducting extra patrols in the area and we encourage people to call if they see something suspicious, especially property owners.
“I’ve been there several times and we’ve had officers checking in the hope that if something is happening, people can flag us down. There’s been a lot going on in that location. We’re relying on community members to let us know.”
