Agencies investigate massive fire south of Roswell

Agencies investigate massive fire south of Roswell

A fire erupted Thursday night at the Roswell Air Center, causing some facilities to evacuate and lose power.

ROSWELL, N.M. — A fire erupted Thursday night at the Roswell Air Center, causing some facilities to evacuate and lose power.

The fire was burning inside a warehouse leased to AerSale, a private aviation business that stores equipment and airplane parts.

The Roswell Fire Department posted on social media warning people to avoid the area.

“I was told that there were chemicals inside as well as oxygen bottles,” said Undersheriff Charles Yslas, with the Chaves County Sheriff’s Office. “The fire department made the decision to evacuate and extend the perimeter. They pulled all of their personnel out over the contents of this building.”

According to the city’s public information officer, it was later determined that the materials inside were not a significant threat to people in the area.

Soon after, the air center, including the airport, lost power.

“We did lose power. however, the power was restored prior to our late-night arrival. and so no flights were affected,” said Jennifer Griego, the director of the air center.

The fire burned for a while, but the fire department says it was under control around 1 a.m. Friday morning.

Crews came back out to clean up the mess left behind.

“The fire crews did an amazing job keeping it from spreading, especially with the winds that we’ve been having down in Chavis County right now,” Yslas said.

The cause of the fire is still unknown as it’s an ongoing investigation.