SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico (KTSM) — The City of Sunland Park and the Camino Real Regional Utility Authority (CRRUA) are being sued by a family that alleges a faulty fire hydrant played a role in the destruction of their mobile home during a structure fire earlier this year.
The residential structure fire occurred back on April 24 at the 200 block of Calle Diaz, in the Anapra subdivision. The mobile home and a neighbor’s shed were a total loss, according to the Sunland Park Fire Department.
4 displaced after mobile home catches fire in Sunland Park
“Coming back and seeing this, it’s heartbreaking because this was my home for 10 years and, well, there’s nothing left. I see sadness, when one day it was happiness,” Laissa Mendoza, the owner of the now destroyed mobile home, said.
Mendoza and her family were displaced due to the fire, and have been living at her mother-in-law’s home since.
Mendoza’s husband, Luis Mendoza, is the plaintiff in the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed as a complaint for negligence, nuisance, and damages by the City of Sunland Park and CRRUA.
The lawsuit alleges that the fire hydrants near the mobile home were non-functional. It also alleges that despite the response of crews from Sunland Park and El Paso fire departments, they were unable to suppress the fire due to a lack of water in the hydrants.
“The fire hydrants didn’t work, that’s why, and firefighters couldn’t stop it. They had to go to the casino and then get the water. So it took them 20 minutes to come and go. So when they came in and put water in, the fire would start again because there wasn’t enough water,” Mendoza said. “I was angry because we pay taxes, and they barely made the street like a year ago, so they had to be working.”
The complaint blames CRRUA and the City of Sunland Park because they were responsible for the operation, maintenance, and oversight of the water infrastructure in the area.
“The failure was the fact that there was no water at all in the hydrants in this community. The hydrants were basically window dressing from what we can gather. The information we have is that they were inoperable. They just sat there,” Gabriel Perez, the attorney representing the Mendoza family, said.
You can find the document of the complaint below.
The City of Sunland Park responded to KTSM’s request for comment by issuing the following statement:
“We share empathy for the loss this family experienced, but we cannot discuss specific claims during active litigation.”
CRRUA has not responded to KTSM’s request for comment. However, shortly after the fire back in April, CRRUA issued a news release to address community concerns that the Anapra area had low water pressure.
CRRUA: Improvements help crews battle fire in Anapra; Addresses low water pressure in the area
In the release, CCRUA admitted the water mains in the Anapra Subdivision did not meet pressure requirements and that there was room to improve infrastructure in the area.
“Water mains in the Anapra Subdivision were installed more than 40 years ago, following codes and standards that were in effect at the time of construction. Many of the existing water mains are not large enough to meet current fire flow and pressure requirements,” read the news release.
However, CRRUA also said the fire hydrants were part of recently installed fire suppression infrastructure that had previously been lacking.
“Without these upgrades, the nearest hydrant would have been on McNutt Road, potentially delaying response efforts and increasing fire damage,” CRRUA Executive Director Juan Crosby said back in April.
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