By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media
– Five years later the scars are still visible north of Raton if you know what to look for, but this weekend five years earlier was a starkly different scene as fire and smoke covered the hillsides and evacuations were called for in north Raton.
It started quickly that Sunday (June 12, 2011) just after noon, driven by erratic winds and dry brush it spread just as fast. By late afternoon smoke filled the skies around Raton and firefighters could only watch as day turned to night and the red glow of fire covered the hills sides.
While the sites and memories have faded so many residents in north Raton still remember gathering belongings and pilling into a vehicle to move to safer ground as the fire loomed on the mesa just above town. Many stayed with relatives while a few found refuge in the shelter setup by the Red Cross at the Raton Convention Center. It was a tense couple of days not knowing what might happen. Would the fire change direction and descend on Raton or continue northeast driven by the prevailing winds of the region.
The fire moved northeast and created a new and equally grave situation, fire in the Lake Maloya watershed. This could have been devastating for Raton should the debris and ash runoff contaminate Raton’s drinking water supply. Luck was on the side of the Raton water department as gentle rains came in the weeks after the fire. Lake Maloya was spared the wrath of what could have been had the rains been hard and fast moving debris and ash into the lake. There were rains that did come hard just west of Raton along Raton Pass and the Raton Creek showed the force and fury of what could have been in the Lake Maloya watershed.
Fisherman returned to the shores of Lake Maloya and soon life at the lake began to return to normal. Vegetation in the form of oak brush and grasses began to grow back and the scene became one of stark contrasts. In place of the large pine trees were only blackened skeletons contrasted by the lush green oak brush and grass.
Now five years later and thousands of hours of restoration work the area around the lake looks good. There are still signs on Raton Pass and hills overlooking Raton to remind people of what happened. But even those are going away as the blackened skeletons of trees fall to the ground to continue the cycle of forest life after a fire.
The cause of the blaze was finally blamed on four wheelers by railroad and state fire investigators. Some however remember that same day a grass fire was started near Wagon Mound by the same train that sat just west of Raton that afternoon where the fire started. What ever the cause it was an event that rallied the residents of Raton and brought them together.
The scenery will never be the same as many remember it was only six years earlier. Change they say is constant and as seen fire can make drastic changes, some good, some bad. As Raton looks back on this event remember what brought Raton together and realize we are all in this together and it takes all of us to make things work as it did five years ago.
Heavy rains on Raton Pass brought ash filled flood waters down Raton Creek after the Track Fire. This is what Lake Maloya could have seen had the rains not been lighter giving vegetation a chance to regrow and slow erosion as well as the efforts of a quick and positive restoration project.
One year later the lush green vegetation and fishermen return to Lake Maloya
Thanks for photos of “home.”