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Albert Mirabal, left, tosses a bucket of water on the blaze that erupted at his home on Friday. Fire Chief Mike Cherry, center, uses a fire hose to fight the house fire on Highway 104.
Priscilla Mirabal had been to Lowe’s for groceries. As she drove down the hill on Highway 104 toward Pajarito Creek she saw the smoke. “I knew it was my house,” she said. Parked on the side of the road, Mirabal watched from her pickup as gray smoke tumbled out the house that was home for about 20 years. “I’m just glad Albert wasn’t asleep,” said Mirabal of her husband Albert Mirabal. Albert Mirabal had tried to contain the fire, said neighbor Tella Morris. The Mirabals were not injured.