HIGH FIRE RISK: Structure fires continue

In the early hours of February 28, Trisha Lopez was awakened by her six-month-old puppy barking. When she and her husband, Alvaro Lopez, went outside to investigate, they detected the smell of smoke.

“He was just barking, all crazy, and my husband woke up, and he got out to see what he was barking at. He seen the smoke, and he ran to the backyard,” Trisha Lopez said. “He was just screaming, help me, help me.”

A fire had ignited in the cat cage and quickly spread to the house, causing significant damage to their trailer. Despite their attempts to control the situation, one cat unfortunately died, and two others were severely injured.

“I’m trying to get Grumpy Cat out, and my husband went to the other cage to try to start getting them out. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t get Grumpy out of the cage,” Trisha said, “There was nothing I could do to get him out. He was on fire.”

Trisha said she burned her hands and face on the cage in her attempts.

Alvaro said the memory of Mr. Grumpy’s death haunts him.

“I’ll never forget that,” Alvaro said, “I tried, but the cage was just too hot, and I just couldn’t handle it. That’s the worst thing I’ve seen in my life. I still dream about it, and it’s just awful.”

Alvaro said he was also gathering all of their kittens and trying to keep the mother cat from returning to get them. He said the mother cat was so determined that she and one of her kittens sustained significant burns and had to be taken to the vet for treatment.

“We just got them from the vet yesterday,” Trisha said on Wednesday,” They’re gonna be okay, but they got a long journey ahead of them. They got some bad burns.”

The two are grateful to their young neighbor who called 911 and to organizations like APS and Animal Haven, which have assisted with the veterinary bills.

According to the Socorro Department fire report, nine firefighters arrived at the scene at 3:19 a.m. on February 28 to find a single-story mobile home with heavy flames. The department performed roof operations to gain access to the home because they couldn’t due to hoarding, said the report. The fire was controlled by 3:29 a.m., with an estimated total damage of $55,000.

The report said the fire appeared to have been started by homeowners burning trash in the backyard and spread due to the fire load on the property. The cause was determined to be unintentional.

Tracy and Alvaro said the fire department had visited their property the week before to tell them they couldn’t burn trash, but they claimed they did not burn trash anymore after the visit.

Daniel Pacheco, City of Socorro Fire Captain, said the risk of fire is high when there’s a heavy fire load and wind. He emphasizes the importance of following these guidelines to prevent accidental fires and ensure community safety.

“It’s been super, super windy. It’s important to always check the city website just to make sure for burning purposes because there’s a lot of people in the city that are uninformed when it comes to the ordinances that we have for burning,” Pacheco said.

Most of the time, when the fire department is called out for people burning trash, residents tell them they didn’t know about the ordinance, said Pacheco.

Pacheco said burning is only allowed between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., only vegetation and dry wood can be burned, not trash, and burn piles must be small and no larger than 3x3 feet. He said a water source must always be available, the fire should never be left unattended, and a very minimal use of accelerants is recommended.

“In the event that you are uneducated or uninformed, you can always come to the fire department for questions, and in order to burn, you need a burn permit from the fire department. We have those available on hand, and it gives you all the instructions you need on the back of the page,” Pacheco said.

Since January 1, Pacheco reported that the Socorro fire department has responded to 25 fire-related calls, ten of which have been structure fires.

“We have had increased fires and increased EMS calls. We are still trying to figure out what’s going on with the county and all that stuff with us. We’re trying to get more manpower so that we’re not constantly on the road in the county and leaving Socorro unattended.”

He encouraged the public to contact the fire department with questions about burning permits and fire prevention.