By John Miller
Albuquerque Journal
SANTA FE, N.M. The U.S. Wildland Fire Service announced Tuesday morning that the crew member who died on the Frijoles Fire burning northeast of Santa Fe on Sunday was Randy Lupe, a 62-year-old from the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona.
The Fire Service said Lupe was a temporary emergency support crew member, part of the San Carlos camp crew assisting efforts to contain the 15,226-acre blaze, which was 52% contained as of Tuesday morning.
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“Out of consideration for the family, the Interior Department is not releasing additional medical information at this time,” Wildland Fire Service said in a social media post.
California Interagency Incident Management Team 8 is overseeing the 15,200-acre wildfire and first announced a crew member had died due to a “medical incident” late on Sunday, but did not immediately release an identity.
“Emergency personnel responded immediately, the patient was transported to a local hospital and despite the efforts of emergency medical responders, the patient did not survive the medical event,” the announcement reads.
The size of the Frijoles Fire has remained steady since Friday, with fire managers reporting good progress containing its western and northern edges, where several small villages have been at risk and bear the brunt of operational activity from the late-summer wildfire.
Crews have also been working on the eastern and southern ends of the fire to protect other communities and ensure the fire stays within its current footprint.
A total of 824 personnel are playing direct firefighting or support roles on the lightning-caused blaze, down about 100 people from the more than 900 crew members who were at the fire on Monday, according to Tuesday’s update.
Fire managers on the Frijoles Fire canceled a meeting that had been planned in Truchas Monday evening in response to Lupe’s death.
“This loss is felt deeply across the wildland firefighting community,” the post from the Wildland Fire Service read, “and our thoughts are with all those affected.”
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