By Rozanna M. Martinez
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
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BERNALILLO, NM — A Bernalillo home is a total loss after a fire late Monday night that possibly started in the chimney.
The Bernalillo Fire Department was dispatched to the home in the 1000 block of Calle San Lorenzo about 11 p.m. The home was engulfed in flames.
Bernalillo police officers who were first on scene told firefighters an elderly man and woman as well as a dog had been evacuated, Bernalillo Fire Chief John Estrada said. “It took about almost two hours to get (the fire) fully out because of the house structure,” Estrada said. “It had three different types of roofs, an adobe flat roof, (a portion with) shingles on top of the adobe and a pitched tin roof. It was hard for firefighters to get to, and they had to get on top of ladders and hit it with water.”
Fire personnel from Corrales, Placitas and Algodones were called in to assist, he said. Monday’s snowstorm hampered travel and it took fire trucks about 15 minutes to respond to the home, according to Estrada. “Right when I was running out of water from the first two (fire) engines, we had a long way to get to another hydrant, but the (fire) truck from Algodones showed up,” Estrada said. “We did a defense attack. We were trying to protect another structure on the south side. It was about 10 feet away.” The house to the south did receive some damage, Estrada said. Its gutters and tin on the house melted. The fully engulfed home, though, is a total loss. The department is continuing its investigation into the cause of the fire.
“There was a fire going in the chimney at the time the fire started,” Estrada said. The homeowner was in California at the time, Estrada said. The elderly man and woman were watching the home in his absence.
“We went to talk to (the elderly man and woman) and they said it was a cold night and they were trying to keep warm,” Estrada said. “They were watching TV, started smelling smoke and called 911.”
Firefighters begin to mop up after Monday night’s fire at this home on Calle San Lorenzo in Bernalillo.
Copyright 2008 Albuquerque Journal