Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Fire Does Damage to Unoccupied House

By John Larson

MAGDALENA – An unoccupied frame house near the intersection of Highways 60 and 169 was destroyed by fire on Wednesday, Nov. 10.
Marshal Larry Cearley said the fire was contained but it was a total loss.
“The fire is under investigation by the fire marshal's office and was caused by a faulty propane furnace,” he said. “The home was not occupied and was for rent.”
The property is owned by Bill Terrel of Albuquerque, said Cearley.
Interim Fire Chief Donna Dawson said that she was alerted to the fire at about 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday when a passerby spotted smoke coming from the dwelling.   
“I went over and checked and saw that there was a fire, so Chad Perkins, David Harris, and I took a tanker over,” she said. “When we pulled up we knew it had already reached the roof, so the first thing we did was vent the house and open the door, then we knocked down what fire we could inside.”
Dawson said the Hop Canyon Fire Department also responded to the scene.
“They arrived as we were trying to vent the roof,” she said. “We put a small hole in the roof so smoke and flames can go up instead of coming back down into the main part of the house.
“Altogether there were three engines – two from Hop Canyon and one from Magdalena – at the scene,” she added.
Responding to the scene from the HCFD were Bill Delguidice, Jim Bookland, Ned Fahey, Michael Mideke, and Glenn Bigelow.
Firefighters from Magdalena stayed on the scene until 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, according to Dawson.

Photo courtesy of Marshal Larry Cearley
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