The Cortez Fire Protection District board last week received updates on construction of the new fire station and a fire that gutted a house northwest of Cortez.
Vergil Gray, building division manager, told board members during their monthly meeting on Oct. 11 that construction at North and Washington streets is back on track.
“We are gonna get her built now, and we are excited about it,” Gray said. “I think we are going to be doing the road crossing next week.”
Gray also gave updates on the specifics of the project’s piping.
“We finally got past the hydroponic improvement stage, and we are placing slabs,” Gray said. “We should have all of the slabs placed by the end of next week.”
Fire Chief Jeff Vandevoorde updated the board on the house fire at County Road 24.4 on Monday, Oct. 2. The homeowners had reportedly been in Las Vegas that morning. Cortez firefighters were called to the scene off North Broadway at 11:57 p.m. on Oct. 2 after a neighbor reported seeing the flames.
Fifteen firefighters and four trucks from the Cortez, Lewis-Arriola and Dolores fire departments responded to the blaze. Vandevoorde said it took about an hour and a half to extinguish the flames, and some areas were still smoldering the following morning.
“We had that fire out at 24.4, and those guys did a great job on that,” Vandevoorde said. “That didn’t get called in until somebody was driving by down below. It was probably burning for a while, and it had burned through the crawl space already. They did a good job knocking everything down and getting in there.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but Vandevoorde commented on the plausible causes.
“They (the homeowners) also set off five or six bug bombs before they left, so we are taking a look at that.”
Vandevoorde also reported on two Cortez recruits from the Paul H. Fischer memorial class.
“Gabriel Rogers was offered a full-time position, and he has accepted it, and he will be starting November 14,” Vandecoorde said. “Chris Ludington is a solid guy. He works a lot of part-time hours for us. Two really good recruits out of that class.”
Vandevoorde also reported on an E-One firetruck that is down for repairs.
The truck was taken to Albuquerque for about $30,000 in repairs.
“The truck is 20-some years old, and it just needs a lot of work, so we are going to do half out of this budget and half out of next budget,” Vandevoorde said. “Pete’s Equipment is an E-One dealer and had sold us a brush truck. ... They are taking care of it.”
Chief Vandevoorde also reported the Cortez Fire Protection District ran 191 calls in September.
“We are up to 1,595 calls for the year,” Vandevoorde said. “That is about 150 over last year.”