Lithium battery suspected in Las Cordovas fire

GEOFFREY PLANT/Taos News

Taos Volunteer Fire Department responded to three structure fires over Memorial Day Weekend, including this structure fire in Los Cordovas.

Taos Volunteer Fire Department responded to a structure fire off Cuchilla Road in Los Cordovas shortly after 6 p.m. Monday (May 29), but was unable to save the home, which bystanders Alfred and Annette Romero said belonged to their neighbor, a retired Taos police officer.

No one was injured in the blaze, which is under investigation, according to Lt. Eddie Joe Abeyta.

"They were looking at a lithium battery charging for a portable lawnmower," he said. "Right now it's still under investigation, but that's what it's looking like."

After one of two tanker trucks left the scene just before 7 p.m., a firefighter reported to Taos County Dispatch, "We're out. We're out of water." A tanker truck arrived with water roughly 20-30 minutes later.

With regard to fire hydrants in Los Cordovas, Abeyta said "there's some closer to there, where the infrastructure is there, but I don't know if they're up and running. We would have relied on tanker trucks 100 percent."

Fire Marshal Erik Oiesen-Vreeke said Memorial Day Weekend was a busy one for his department, which responded to three separate structure fires, including one that began in the early hours of Saturday (May 27) at the shuttered Laughing Horse Inn on Paseo del Pueblo Norte.

"It's another suspect fire," Oiesen-Vreeke said. "We had the state fire marshal come up to do an investigation. There were not utilities to the building, so it's a suspicious cause. We're trying to work with the realtor and owners to figure out a better way to secure the building. It's kind of a hazard."

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