Residents of small New Mexico town worried about non-working hydrant after fire

A fire in the small town of Organ, about 15 miles east of Las Cruces, that destroyed a tool shed and burned part of a home last week was intentionally by a resident of the home according to authorities.

Doa Ana County Sheriff’s Deputies have arrested 28-year-old Ivan Gambio-Soto, charging him with possible arson.

According to Sheriff’s records obtained by ABC-7, Gambio-Soto told detectives he was smoking a cigarette and put it in a trashcan inside the home. Gambio-Soto said it caught on fire and put it out with a bucket of water and took it outside, but caught again, catching a tool shed and fence on fire.

The document also states a neighbor heard Gambio-Soto yelling to let the house burn and Gambio-Soto’s father, who owns the home, said his son made threats earlier Friday he would regret not giving his son a job. Gambio-Soto’s father is pressing charges for arson.

ABC-7 also talked with the next door neighbors of Gambio-Soto, Mercedes Benoit and Christine Burch.

“It was really bad, the smoke,” Benoit said. “It was like dark and then it was grey and then all of a sudden we heard a big swoosh. I guess whatever was in there…the flames shot out and it think that’s where it got part of that house, on the corner.”

Benoit said she was sitting at home, watching television when a man knocked on a door saying there was a fire. She and several neighbors rushed outside to see what was going on.

“Everybody was around looking and trying to help,” Benoit said. “I think there was a couple of people who brought their hoses out also.”

Her daughter, Christine Burch, also grabbing a hose to protect their property just feet away from the blaze.

“I was worried about that if it got the tent, it would go to our roof,” Benoit said. “The house is stucco, but the roof will burn.”

Fire crews from all over Doa Ana County came out to fight the fire, but according to a fire marshal with the county, they had problems with a fire hydrant the night of the fire, making putting it out harder.

“As a community, we are really concerned about the fire hydrants being in working order,” Christine Burch, Benoit’s daughter said.

Burch said she reached out to the Lower Rio Grande Public Water Works, who oversee the inspection of the hydrants, about the hydrant. She said a work order has been issued to fix the hydrant.

Martin Lopez with Lower Rio Grande PWW said the hydrant was inspected days before the fire and deemed unusable. He said the inspector put a bag over the hydrant to indicate it was not working, but fire crews attached into the night of the fire.

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