Photos courtesy Joe Gallegos, Chief, Santa Clara Volunteer Fire Department

By Roger Lanse

On Wednesday, July 17, 2019, a home on 7 Bridle Road, located south of the cemetery, in Santa Clara, was reported to the Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority at 12:35 a.m. as fully engulfed in flames. The Santa Clara Volunteer Fire Department was first on scene and requested tenders from the Whiskey Creek and Santa Rita volunteer fire departments to provide water as there were no hydrants near the fire, according to XCVFD Chief Joe Gallegos. Officers from the Hurley, Santa Clara, and Bayard police departments also assisted.

More photos below

The owner, Michelle Earles of Las Cruces was contacted, and she advised the house was under contract but had not yet been sold.

Gallegos told the Beat that he and the state fire marshal are still investigating the cause for the blaze, but did offer that the cause was not accidental.

No one was injured in suppressing the fire, Gallegos said. Although some structure remains standing, the chief said the home was a total loss.

XCVFD personnel were called back to the fire at 6:23 a.m. that day and again about 1:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 18, to extinguish some minor flare-ups underneath the rubble, Gallegos stated.