By Clayton Chaney
Staff Writer
On Monday, Dec. 29, the Pagosa Fire Protection District (PFPD) dealt with the literal version of how many view 2020: a dumpster fire.
According to PFPD Deputy Chief Karn Macht,a call for the dumpster fire at the Wyndham Pagosa Eagle’s Lofts was received at approximately 2:47 p.m.
He explained that the first crew to arrive at the scene was a volunteer crew of four on PFPD’s Engine 1 truck.
The volunteer crew arrived on scene at approximately 3:02 p.m. and was able to control the flames by 3:06 p.m.
The crew was able to hook a water line up to a pump on the truck.
Macht noted that every PFPD truck carries 1,000 gallons of water and that is what was used by the volunteer crew to extinguish the fire.
Another crew of paid firefighters arrived after the flames had already been controlled and the scene was cleared at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Macht noted that PFPD was responding to multiple calls throughout the day and at the time the call came in for the dumpster fire, all the paid PFPD crews were out responding to a call near Treasure Falls.
He mentioned how important it was for the volunteer crew to respond to the call as it would’ve taken extra time for paid crews to arrive on scene.
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“As always, they step up and do a tremendous job when they are needed. Every time there is a serious call, we can always depend on them to step up and drop whatever they’re doing and come help out their community,” Macht said.
