Dec. 5 was the best and worst of days for the Salais family. On that day the Salais family welcomed a new member into their family, and it was the same day their home caught on fire.
When she watched the smoke rise from the the two-story Velarde home the afternoon of Dec. 5, Robin Salais reminded herself of the insignificance of material things.
“I said, ‘Lord, you already took my home,’” Salais said. “Just don’t take my grandbaby.”
Salais lived at the Rio Arriba County Road 41 home with her three sons, two of her sons’ girlfriends, one granddaughter and six dogs. Despite complications relating to his early arrival — the baby was due Dec. 15 — Manuel Matthew III is healthy, Salais said. However, Salais doesn’t know where she and the rest of the family will stay starting Thursday (12/11). The Red Cross paid for them to stay at Ohkay Casino Hotel for three days, and Father Terry Brennan and another good samaritan are paying for three more days, Salais said.
The morning after the first fire, Salais’ landlady Tina Garcia called her with more bad news — the fire struck up again around 1:30 the morning of Dec. 6. Salais said the Red Cross told her that was suspicious.
“They said they don’t know how it could have started up again — they think that somebody else could have went back in there,” Salais said.
Rio Arriba Wildland Fire and EMS Coordinator Mateo DeVargas said the state Fire Marshal went out to both fires, but the cause of both fires was still under investigation. The first fire centered around the chimney in the middle of the house, Salais said. DeVargas estimated 70 percent of the house was damaged.
When the home caught fire the first time, around 11:30 a.m., no one was home, and a neighbor alerted emergency first responders, according to Garcia. Salais’ younger children were in school, she said, and her oldest son Manuel was at the hospital with his girlfriend Dolores, who was giving birth.
Salais said the first thing investigators asked her was whether her children had any enemies. She reported that Manuel Salais had recently received threatening messages on his cell phone. Salais is a former Sureños gang member who lost his left leg in 2006 when another man struck him with his car. He recently had attempted murder charges against him dismissed when the alleged victim recanted her story.
Two of the family’s dogs, a Chihuahua puppy and a Pomeranian, died in the fire, but the other four survived, Robin Salais said.
The family did lose all their belongings, and Salais opened up an account under her name at Del Norte Credit Union in case anyone wanted to make a donation.
“I mean material things are nothing but that was all our belongings, everything torched up,” Salais said. “Why now, for Christmas?”