The State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating a Hernandez house fire as a possible arson after the man who rented the house allegedly nearly burned it down Tuesday morning.
State Police and firefighters first responded to reports of a fire around 3 a.m. Tuesday at a home on Private Drive 1512 just across Highway 84/285 from the Jemez Mountains Electric Co-op in Hernandez, according to State Police officer Michael Dias. The home was being rented by Robert Tafoya, 26, State Police officer Robert Larsen said.
Tafoya first told police he started drinking an 18-pack of beer around 10 p.m. the previous night, then lit a fire in a flower pot outside the house because his electricity had been turned off and he was cold, according to Larsen. The officer said later Tuesday it appeared Tafoya’s electricity was still turned on when he started the flower pot fire.
“It appears he was drunk and just wanted to have a fire outside,” Larsen said. “That progressed to where he tried to burn all his garbage that was stacked up on the other side of house. There was just tons of it. That caught the fence on fire.”
Only when firefighters successfully doused that fire, which remained outside the house, was Tafoya’s electricity turned off as a safety precaution, Larsen said.
But Tafoya seems to have reignited the blaze at some point later Tuesday morning, Larsen said. Tafoya told police he didn’t know how, but the second fire followed him inside and lit his couch on fire, Larsen said.
“He said he threw everything he could on it,” Larsen said. “To me, that’s the wrong thing to do. That’s fueling the fire.”
Tafoya, who refused to speak with a reporter beyond saying he didn’t want his picture to appear in the newspaper, was visibly emotional Tuesday morning as Agua Sana firefighters fought flames and heavy smoke pouring from the house. Tafoya paced in circles around a nearby, unaffected house and chicken coop inquiring about the location of his cats before engaging in a confrontation with police to try to apologize to Clyde Vigil, who Larsen said owns the house.
“It was an accident,” Tafoya yelled through tears. “I just want to apologize.”
Whether the fire was intentional or an accident remains under investigation by the State Fire Marshal’s Office, Larsen said. Despite Tafoya’s apologies, Larsen said there’s “a pretty strong possibility” investigators could gather enough evidence for arson charges.
“It could be either-or,” Larsen said. “Most likely, if it doesn’t turn out to be intentional arson, he’s going to be charged with a negligent burn.”
Criminal arson charges range from negligent arson, a fourth-degree felony, to aggravated arson, a second-degree felony. The difference hinges upon whether the fire was started “recklessly” or “maliciously or willfully” with the intent to destroy or damage property, according to statute.
Messages left with the State Fire Marshal investigator handling the incident and state Public Regulation Commission’s spokesman Gerald Garner, who handles media inquiries for the State Fire Marshal, were not returned.
Larsen said he had not seen or heard of any evidence pointing toward an accelerant being used in the fire, but the house was completely gutted by flames.
“It’s totalled,” Larsen said. “The owner said he’s going to have to bulldoze the house down, and then you have to get rid of all that rubble. So it’s not just losing the property but also having to pay for the disposal of it, then rebuilding it. It’s going to be pretty costly.”
Vigil, who Larsen said did not have insurance on the house, also would not speak with a reporter at the scene other than to confirm he owned the house.
No one was injured in the blaze, but Larson said only one of Tafoya’s three cats had been located by the time he left the scene. The two others, one of which has only three legs and the other of which responds to the name J-Lo, were still missing Tuesday afternoon, Larsen said.