ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Neighbors in a northwest neighborhood say a brush fire could have destroyed homes had it not been for a professional moving company’s two employees who stopped working and stepped in to put it out.
Sam Silsby and Elijah Salazar were finishing up with a client on Monday evening when they said a woman came outside her home, near Unser Boulevard and Dellyne Avenue, and said a fire sparked behind her home.
“She was panicked and looking around,” Silsby said.
The two men work for Two Men and a Truck.
“You could see the flames, they were pretty big,” Salazar said.
Behind the woman’s home, and dozens of others, is an arroyo that stretches for miles.
“It could have spread very, very rapidly and who knows the damage, because there was a lot of fuel that was down there,” Dan Eyestone said.
Then, Silsby said he remembered that there are fire extinguishers inside every company truck.
“I handed Elijah the fire extinguisher, a couple minutes go by and no one was showing up. I got a little concerned because the fire extinguisher had already run out,” Silsby said.
With the help from neighbors and no fire extinguisher, the two started to kick dirt onto the flames.
“We were thinking, ‘still got to get this fire out.’ I mean if not, it can get pretty big.”
Neighbors said fire crews showed up within minutes, but at the speed the fire was spreading, they were happy the two movers were there to stop it.
“That kind of shows you what kind of heart they have and determination to do the right thing,” Eyestone said.
Neighbors told KRQE News 13, they believe fireworks sparked the small brush fire, because they heard some that same evening.
