A fire at 1301 Broadway Blvd. N.E. broke out last Wednesday evening in a building that houses three businesses: Cross Country Auto Parts, TMM Business Records Storage and Factory Motor Parts.
The flames were confined to TMM’s portion of the building by Thursday, said Melissa Romero, Albuquerque Fire Department spokeswoman.
“High winds were a challenge during the first night in the extinguishment of the fire,” she said. “AFD firefighters made tremendous progress through the night and into the next day. The fire was contained to the TMM Business Records Storage portion of the building and
sustained most of the damage.”
TMM representatives declined to comment on the fire.
Joe Morris, owner of Commercial Warehouse Co. across the street, said he was concerned for his business when he heard about the fire.
“I got a call on Wednesday night from some friends, because they knew I had a business over here,” he said. “They thought I might ought to know about it. I drove down that night and saw it — it was just terrible.”
The scene Wednesday night was chaotic, Morris said.
“The amount of smoke that we could see from the house alone was huge,” he said. “But it was nothing compared to actually being there. It was like a nightmare. The whole top of the roof was on fire, and it is a pretty large building.”
But AFD acted efficiently to stop the blaze, Morris said.
“The amount of water that was dumped on that fire was immense,” he said. “One hose was pumping 2,000 gallons a minute and then two other hoses were pumping 1,000 gallons a minute. That is 4,000 gallons a minute for almost 20 hours.”
Though the fire continued to burn through Saturday, the flames were minimal and no injuries were reported, Romero said.
“As of (Friday, June 25), the scene has decreased to the parking lot of the fire building,” she said. “Seven AFD units remain on scene to extinguish any flare ups or hot spots.”
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Determining the source of the flames is of utmost importance to the city, Romero said, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives has been recruited to assist.
“The fire cause and origin is under investigation by AFD and ATF,” she said. “ATF National Response Team has been called in to assist with the investigation due to the large building and heavy fire load. The investigation is expected to last up to a week.”
Although flames have been extinguished, crews were still actively cleaning up the remnants of the blaze the morning of Sunday, June 27.
“I’m just glad the wind wasn’t blowing our way,” Morris said.
