A fire destroyed an abandoned home located at 601 Old Hospital Road on Saturday morning, sending huge plumes of smoke into the air.
The fire broke out around 8 a.m. and there were no reported injuries.
Española Assistant Fire Chief John Wickersham said the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
He said the fire department has been called out to the property multiple times and it is part of the city’s Clean and Lien program.
Clean and Lien is a city program that identifies neglected, dilapidated, dangerous and nuisance properties and attempts to get property owners to fix and bring them to code. If the owners fail to do so, the city can pay for repairs or demolition, then place a lien on the property and eventually take ownership of it.
Española Fire Marshal Pablo Montoya said the building had been abandoned for some time, and that they had responded to small fires and medical calls there in the past. This time, the building was a total loss.
“By the time we got there, it was already mostly involved, the roof was already collapsing,” Montoya said. “The extent of damage already destroyed the house.”
A city crew demolished the structure to prevent anyone else from staying on the property, he said. The fire did not spread to other properties or buildings.
The fire occurred around a shift change at the fire department, so there were plenty of firefighters available to respond to the fire, along with mutual assistance from surrounding departments, Montoya said. Besides extinguishing the fire, they had to cut down trees on the property to prevent them from smoldering.