Fires destroy 2 abandoned Tucumcari motels

link Tucumcari’s Payless Inn (left) and Tucumcari Motel, both abandoned, burned down in separate fires within a week of each other, the Payless on Sept. 3 and the Tucumcari Motel on Friday night. The state fire marshal’s office is investigation the Payless Inn blaze.

QCS Managing Editor

Two abandoned Tucumcari motels burned to the ground in separate fires on Sept. 3 and Friday night. An abandoned house was left charred but still standing in a Sept. 3 fire that occurred about an hour before the first motel blaze.

The cause of all three fires is suspicious, Tucumcari Fire Chief Larry Rigdon said.

The abandoned Payless Inn in Tucumcari and an the abandoned house were destroyed in fires that occurred within an hour of each other in the early hours of Sept. 3. The Tucumcari Motel building at Adams and Smith streets, Tucumcari burned to the ground in a fire that began at around 11 p.m. Friday night.

At about 1:30 a.m. Sept. 3, Firefighters were battling a fire in an abandoned house at 524 N. Fourth St. The Payless Inn fire was reported about an hour later, while firefighters were working on the house fire, Tucumcari Fire Chief Larry Rigdon said.

When firefighters arrived at the Payless Inn, 2000 W. Rte. 66 Blvd., three separate buildings on the property were engulfed in flames, Rigdon said. The blaze leveled all three buildings. At about 11 a.m. Sept. 3, firefighters were still tending smoking ruins of the motel property.

Rigdon said the cause of both Sept. 3 fires is suspicious. The motel blaze is under investigation through the New Mexico Fire Marshal’s Office.

The owner of the Fourth Street house, Baudelio Lopez, said his daughter woke him up to tell him that smoke was coming from the abandoned house. Lopez and his family live across the street from the property, he said. He then notified the fire department. Lopez said the abandoned house was hit by fire in 2008, but only parts of the interior burned.

He said he had plans to tear down the building and clear the lot.

Five units of the Tucumcari Fire Department and 12 firefighters responded to the Sept. 3 motel blaze, Rigdon said. They were joined by five units and seven firefighters from the District 1 Fire Department.

On Friday night, Rigdon said, 10 firefighters responded to the Tucumcari Motel fire. They brought two engines, a ladder truck and an equipment van, he said. At about 3 a.m., Firefighters left the scene. Smoke continued to rise from the building on Monday morning.

The Payless Inn is owned by Maggie Ventures, LLC., of Las Vegas, Nevada, according to Quay County Assessor’s Office information. The property is valued at $155,155. It had been devalued since 2013, when its value was assessed at $445,386.

The Tucumcari Motel’s owner is Robert Hengstenberg of Chimayo, who also owns the Sands-Dorsey building in downtown Tucumcari, which was reduced to two walls and rubble by fires in 2007 and 2012. The Tucumcari City Commission is considering alternatives for disposing of the Sands-Dorsey ruins.

The assessor’s office valued the Tucumcari Motel building at $6,821 in 2014, up from $6,622 in 2013.