Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
On Tuesday, March 22, at approximately 3:40 p.m., the New Rockford Fire Department responded to reports of a fire at 811 1st Ave. N. in New Rockford, locally known as the old city hall building.
According to New Rockford Fire Chief Todd Allmaras, the blaze occurred in the building's basement where a propane tank had burst into flames.
Allmaras said the blaze originated from the property owner using propane to thaw frozen pipes, at which point nearby insulation caught fire and melted a hose between the heater and the 20 lbs. propane tank.
"They had what appeared to be a larger fire, because it was being fed by gas from the tank," explained Allmaras.
However, once the tank was turned off, Allmaras said there wasn't much fire left to extinguish.
No injuries were reported and damage to the building was little to none, but Allmaras added that things could have ended differently had their response not been so quick.
"Had that fire not been caught in a timely manner by the property owner, it would have taken off very rapidly in another five or 10 minutes, and would have likely been through the roof in a relatively short period of time," said Allmaras, "considering the fact that the entire building is under renovation and there's no interior walls other than studs."
According to Allmaras, five trucks and approximately 11 firefighters responded to the fire, which "thankfully" only took a few minutes to extinguish.
"I would say it was a close call," Allmaras concluded.