Others
say 'burn' was at direction
of family
An
exterior view of the charred remains of a hogan in Iyanbito. (Photo
by Nick Short/Independent)
An interior shot of the same hogan that either burned to the ground due to a
fire crew mishap, or was allowed to burn on purpose. (Photo by Nick Short/Independent)
By Leslie Wood
Staff Writer
FORT
WINGATE — A Fort Wingate woman said the community's
volunteer fire department arrived at the scene of her hogan's June
23 fire unequipped.
Priscilla Johnson, who owned a hogan located near Iyanbito, said the
fire department's 1,000-gallon water tank was nearly empty when firefighters
arrived to combat
the flames. Consequently, her home was destroyed.
However, Fort Wingate firefighter Scott Merrill said family members advised
firefighters to let the hogan burn.
Merrill said the department responded to a fire in Pinedale a few days before
and the fire engine received a flat tire traveling back to the station.
The towing company required firefighters to drain the water from the tank
before it would proceed in towing the engine to Fort Wingate. At the time
of the hogan
fire, the tank was not refilled.
"It wasn't our fault and it wasn't our mechanic's fault," Merrill said. "It
is just one of those things that happens and you can't control."
Merrill also said the hogan was completely engulfed in flames by the time
he and his fellow firefighters arrived.
"There was nothing to save," he said. "Everything was scorched
and it was filled with smoke."
He said the 12-foot by 12-foot hogan seemed intended for storage purposes,
not as a home.
Three tankers equipped with "more than enough water" followed the
original tanker about three to five minutes after it arrived at the scene,
Merrill said,
but it was too late to salvage much.
But neighbor Tina Martinez said none of the tanks had enough water. She also
said neighbors were afraid a propane tank situated next to the hogan would
explode because of its proximity to the flames.
"Everyone was running trying to get enough water to put it out," she
said. "But we didn't have enough."
The Johnson family recently renovated the hogan to prepare for a son to move
in, Martinez said.
"There were a lot of really nice things inside," she said.
Martinez said she did hear a family member ask firefighters to allow the
hogan to burn, but Johnson said she never made the request.
"Why would anyone do that," Johnson said.
Merrill said he was told there was a death in the hogan earlier and that
could have been the reason family members told him to allow the fire to burn.
"According to tradition, that is the best way of getting rid of his spirit," he
said.
Johnson and Merrill said the fire is thought to have started with children
playing with matches.
"The fire caught the (hogan's) wooden door and it engulfed from there," Johnson
said.
Merrill said unfortunately this type of behavior is not uncommon for this
time of year.
"It's fireworks season and the kids may have been playing around," he
said.
The Fort Wingate fire department is not responsible for investigating causes
of fires, just for extinguishing them, Merrill said.
Because of the location of the hogan, the Navajo police are responsible for
any citations issued or for investigations into the origins of the fire.
|
Tuesday
June 29, 2004
Selected
Stories:
Others
say 'burn' was at direction of family
Uniforms for school are out but new
dress code is now in
Navajo
climb on board MTV's Rock the Vote
Man
gets two slices when another wants soda
Deaths |
