Las Cruces family devastated after 3-year-old killed in fire
A Las Cruces family is mourning the loss of a 3-year-old Blayne Caballero after he was killed in a house fire.
The young boy’s parents, his 23-year-old Mark Caballero and 21-year-old Helen Huckabay , were able to safely escape the blaze along with their 7-month-old daughter, according to Las Cruces Fire Department.
The cause of the fire on the 7700 block of Charro Street remains unknown, investigators said Monday. The blaze erupted shortly after 2 am. Chris Huckabay, the boy’s uncle, told ABC-7 the father and sister were in the back of the home when the fire started and they escaped through a window. He says Blayne was in the front of the home.
Huckabay, who lives next door to the family, says his sister (Blayne’s mother) came running to his home for help. Huckabay says they did everything they possibly could to save him.
“I tried knocking the window out and standing on a bucket to get into the room to get the baby out,” Huckabay said. “I got the fire extinguisher and was spraying it but it wasn’t doing enough.”
Huckabay says the window was so incredibly hot, he could barely touch it. He then ran to the front of the home.
“By the time I kicked the front door in, there was too much fire and I couldn’t get him out,” he said.
Officials with the Las Cruces Fire Department say they are still working to determine the cause of the fire. But Huckabay says the fire was caused by a space heater in the home. He says the family’s heat did not work, and they had asked the landlord to fix it.
