A semi-trailer truck transporting 50 bales of hay burned on Highway 285 north of Ojo Caliente for approximately an hour March 11 before firefighters arrived, according to Ojo Caliente Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Craig Borner.
Borner blamed the delay on a recurrent problem with pagers.
“The truck driver claimed he called us a little after 2 p.m. but we never got the page,” Borner said. “(Firefighter) Tim Viereck was at the fire station and somebody came by and said we had a fire. We got there at 3 p.m.”
The fire delayed traffic for four to five hours, Borner estimated. Neither firefighters nor witnesses could explain how the fire started, and a police report did not name the driver of the truck.
Passing motorists called 911 to report the fire at 2:42 p.m., according to State Police dispatch records. By the time firefighters arrived at 3 p.m., state Highway Department officials were already on scene, Borner said.
“The truck was fully engulfed in flames when we got there (at 3:30 p.m.),” El Rito Volunteer Fire Department Deputy Chief Jack Edwards said. “The Ojo Fire Department had knocked the flame out on the hay load, but the truck (cab) was still on fire. The tires had burned off and it was in gear, so the truck would roll. There was hay smoldering under the fuel tanks. We were very concerned about a potential explosion.”
Firefighters used rakes to pull the smoldering hay from beneath the fuel tanks, Edwards said.
“The state Highway Department used a front loader to push the hay off the trailer,” Edwards said. “Then once the truck’s hitch had cooled, they took a heavy duty wrecker and separated the truck from the trailer.”
The pager failure wasn’t new.
“It delays our responses two or three times a year,” Borner said. “I don’t know why it happens. Might be metal in the soil or having a clear line (of sight).”
The incident occurred on the Rio Arriba/Taos county line.
“(Rio Arriba Emergency Response Manager Mateo) DeVargas made several attempts to reach the Taos County EMS Director but he did not respond,” Borner said.