Amy Alderman, news editor

RED RIVER — The structure fire at 307 E. Main Street, Red River, was contained Monday, Feb. 11 through the coordinated efforts of Enchanted Circle fire and EMS cooperative agencies. The fire started at midnight Sunday, Feb. 10 in the Mountain Shop, a clothing and retail business.
A group of 16 services was able to dispatch five volunteer and staffed fire and EMS agencies from Questa, Taos, Eagle Nest, Moreno Valley and the Wheeler Peak Fire District, to assist the Red River Fire Department.
“It’s to the credit of all the fire departments in the area that we were able to control the situation,” Red River Fire Chief Ron Burnham said. “The reality is we wouldn’t have been able to keep the fire from spreading to other buildings without the Enchanted Circle system in place.”
Burnham deemed the Mountain Shop a “total loss.”
The chief believes the fire was sparked by a combination of an electrical short and a failed line breaker. According to Burnham, by today’s standards, the shop’s electrical system was out of date. However, the system was grandfathered in from older codes. The shop was heavily stocked, said Burnham, which provided a lot of fuel to burn. A shop with close quarters also makes for many concealed and extremely hot spaces, said the chief. The fire was contained by 11:55 a.m. the next morning.