Fourth building in a month destroyed by suspicious fire in Tucumcari

link QCS photo: Thomas Garcia

Tucumcari volunteer firefighters extinguish hot spots at an abandoned house that burned to the ground Friday night on the 800 block of East Main Street. Tucumcari Fire Chief Larry Rigdon said there were two fires set at abandoned buildings Friday night, bringing the total of suspicious fires in Tucumcari up to five in the past month.

QCS Staff

An abandoned house at East Main and South Dawson streets, Tucumcari, was destroyed and a second abandoned building damaged in suspicious fires Friday night, according to Larry Rigdon, Tucumcari Fire Chief.

Rigdon said Friday night's fires bring the total of suspicious fires in the city within one month to five. While firefighters were extinguishing the Main and Dawson fire, a second fire was reported at an abandoned building on the 600 block of South Dawson.

Rigdon said firefighters were able to extinguish the second fire before it destroyed the building, but there was fire and water damage to its interior. Both of Friday's fires are suspicious in origin, he said.

Firefighters were called to the Main and Dawson fire at 11:17 p.m. and found the abandoned house engulfed in flames.

Firefighters extinguished the fire and continued to monitor it for flare-ups through Saturday morning.

It is still unknown whether Friday night's fires were related to the three fires earlier this month at abandoned properties.

Those fires include:

• An abandoned house that burned in the early morning of Sept. 3 at 524 N. Fourth Street,

• The Payless Inn fire that broke out about an hour after firefighters began fighting the north Fourth Street blaze. All three buildings on the Payless Inn property were destroyed.

• The Tucumcari Motel fire that occurred on the night of Sept. 5. The fire destroyed the abandoned building.