By Roger Lanse

On Thursday, Nov. 9, at about 3:56 p.m., the Silver City Fire Department responded to a house fire at a dwelling owned by Becky Smith Ladner at 609 N. Arizona Street. No one was home at the time. Cause of the fire, according to Fire Chief Milo Lambert, was combustibles near the floor furnace which ignited.

Lambert continued, “We were able to save the structure. There’s a lot of smoke damage and some structural damage to the floors but my crew did a fantastic job saving the structure.”

While fighting the fire, Lambert said, a firefighter fell through the weakened wood floor and dislocated his shoulder. “He followed every safety procedure we have, testing the floor in front of his next step, but the floor gave way when he put a little pressure on it and he ended up landing on his shoulder on a floor joist. Being fully geared up added another 50 pounds to his weight, so it was a pretty brutal landing.” He and another crew member, who suffered a medical emergency, were transported to Gila Regional Medical Center’s ER and released. Lambert said.