Former New Mexico U. fraternity house catches fire, officials suspect arson

U. New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, Sep 18, 2009 (Daily Lobo/UWire via COMTEX) -- TLSRP | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A fire destroyed a vacant bedroom in the Telos House complex on the University of New Mexico's campus at about 2:50 a.m. Thursday.

The house, formerly known as the Lambda Chi house, is at the intersection of Las Lomas Road and Yale Boulevard. In the last 14 months, four fires have damaged the Telos House complex.

UNM business student Alexander Heubeck points to the balcony he jumped off of to avoid a fire in the Telos House on Thursday. One room in the house caught fire at about 2:50 a.m. No one was injured. The Telos houses have caught fire four times in the past 14 months.

Melissa Romero, Albuquerque Fire Department spokeswoman, said the six people inside the house were evacuated Thursday and there were no injuries.

Romero said the fire remained in one room and resulted in fire and smoke damage.

Troy Rivas, the Telos House Director, said the vacant room contained two mattresses and a banana-shaped stuffed animal. He said he is unsure how much it will cost to repair the damage in the room.

Romero said the fire was suspicious and AFD investigators are determining its cause.

Rivas said he suspects arson. Police and fire department representatives would not comment on the cause of the fire.

Pat Davis, then spokesman for UNMPD, said in November that the campus police department believed the fires in the area were caused by arsonist activity.

"At this time, we presumably link five suspected arsons together, and we are linking them only because of the proximity," Davis told the Daily Lobo. Rivas said an item thrown through the room's window seems to have been the cause of the fire Thursday.

"It looked like there was some sort of Molotov cocktail thrown in," he said. Ruby Watkins, Telos House assistant director, said the fire is definitely an arsonist's work, and Rivas said he has a few suspects.

"We have an idea, but there is still no hard core evidence," he said. Rivas said the fire was similar to the others.

"It was the same time period as the other fires," he said. "It was the same exact time frame -- from 2 a.m. to 3 o'clock."

Two fires occurred in the Telos House basement across the street from Dane Smith Hall during November and August of last year.

In October, a fire was discovered in a storage shed behind one of the Telos houses. The same night, two other fires on Sigma Chi Road damaged two UNM office buildings.

Rivas said fires were reported in two Telos House residents' vehicles within the 14-month period.

Rivas said his priority is to catch the person responsible for the fires. After that, security is a top issue.

"We are going to look into increasing surveillance," he said. "UNM police finally are going to beef up security by patrolling the area more, and all the other people around us are going to beef up security more."

Lt. Robert Haarhues, UNMPD spokesman, said five officers patrolled between Indian School and the Pit between Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. At 3 a.m., four officers took over the patrol.

Watkins said the buildings have locked doors, a keypad at the front entrance and a guard dog.

http://www.dailylobo.com/index.php/article/2009/09/string_of_fires_raisessuspicion_of_arson

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