It appears a fire this week in an Albuquerque neighborhood was started by the homeless. The fire spread to another house and two cars. Neighbors and Albuquerque Fire Rescue say this is a growing problem in the city.
Tuesday evening, the corner of Chama and Trumbull went up in flames. “The house that we responded to was a boarded-up house. It was directly adjacent to another small home,” says Lt. Tom Ruiz, public information officer for Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR). That adjacent home quickly caught fire as well, displacing the family inside and destroying their cars packed out back. One homeowner was injured while trying to extinguish the fire with a garden hose.
Neighbors we spoke in the immediate area say this was a shocking scene to come home to—a home burning so close to their own.