Building fire shuts down major Albuquerque street

Monica Logroño | KOB

Building fire shuts down major Albuquerque street 6 p.m.

A busy street is still closed in Albuquerque because of a massive fire near the Big-I.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A busy street is still closed in Albuquerque because of a massive fire near the Big-I.

No one is hurt, and that includes both firefighters and civilians. Crews are still working on putting out hotspots, but it is under control. 

The fire happened next to the Querque Hotel near Menaul and Frontage Road. AFR chiefs are trying to track down who owns the building. 

The call initially came in as a gas leak, but Albuquerque Fire Rescue Lt. Jason Fejer says when they got on scene, they did not see signs of a gas leak. 

Hazmat was sent out for that first call, then it got upgraded to a second alarm fire. Three ladders were out shooting water down. 

Fejer says while the building was used as storage for a nonprofit.   

“They’re going to be looking into what caused this. There is quite a heavy fuel load inside that structure, it’s a vacant building. But there was obviously some things being stored inside of it. It did experience a full roof collapse. It got upgraded to a second alarm and that means we need more crews than are on scene,” said Fejer. 

There are still hotspots that crews are watching. Fejer told us they will likely have to stay through the evening, meaning this section of Menaul will stay closed off.