ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque City Councilor Nichole Rogers is calling on the community to keep an eye out for suspicious activity after an abandoned ten-story building slated to become apartments at San Mateo and Central caught fire Tuesday afternoon.
The building is one of two high rises in that area, down the road from the old ‘Bank of the West’ building.
“Albuquerque Fire and Rescue was dispatched out to a fire, that smoke was coming out of the basement and so we know that that’s where the fire originated, in the basement,” Rogers said.
Just after 2:00 pm on Tuesday, Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) crews responded to the smaller of the two high rises near San Mateo and Central. They got the fire under control in about 20 minutes but it did damage the basement and other suites in the building.
“They did, of course, all the sweeps in the area and didn’t find people fleeing the area but we know that it’s a human started fire,” Rogers said. She said this property is important to the area because the owner has big plans for it: “The city is in contact with who purchased it to renovate it for housing, so we’re really committed to making sure we preserve these properties so they can get the building renovated and get people housed here.”
Rogers said housing is desperately needed here, but the process of getting these buildings up to code, like turning utilities back on, sometimes draws people in—opening up the risks of fires like this one. “It makes it harder for us to bring businesses here, right, because they have to deal with these things that cost them extra money, time, heartache, when they’re really just trying to do something good to help us get housing going in this area, which we desperately need,” Rogers said.
Rogers is asking: “So, community, please! Help us help you! And the ways you can do that is if you see things that shouldn’t be happening in this area, call! If you see something, say something.”
“Right now, right here where we’re doing this interview we have encampment sweeps happening right here right? And these are folks that can potentially be housed here,” Rogers said.
The city’s planning department says the owner has applied for the permits and the city is waiting on the plans for the apartments. AFR is still investigating the cause of the fire; no one was injured. The other high-rise down the street has seen vandalism and break-ins in recent months.