Sunland Park mobile home blaze kills 8-year-old girl
Two other children critically injured in early morning fire
SUNLAND PARK — An 8-year-old girl died in a mobile home fire that critically injured two other children early Thursday.
The home was engulfed in flames fanned by high winds when Sunland Park firefighters arrived just after 3:40 a.m. and called for help from fire departments in Doña Ana County, Santa Teresa and El Paso, just across the state line.
Six people were in the home when the fire started. Marisa Muñoz died in the blaze.
“She was a beautiful child. Only 8 years old,” said Rita Perez, the girl’s aunt who lives nearby. She was among relatives and neighbors who gathered near the home hugging, crying and consoling each other throughout the
day The other children injured in the mobile home fire were the girl’s cousins, according to Perez.
Julian Duran, a fifth-grade student at Desert View Elementary, and Jasmine Valenzuela, a seventh-grade student at Santa Teresa Middle School, were airlifted to a burn center in Lubbock, Texas, in critical condition, according to the Gadsden Independent School District.
The district reported that Muñoz was a third-grade student at Desert View.
“The District will provide additional counseling services at both schools as our community deals with this terrible incident,” said Gadsden ISD Superintendent Travis Dempsey in a statement released late Thursday.
Three other relatives in the mobile home at the time of the fire were treated for minor injuries.
The smell of smoke hung in the air in the neighborhood near the home late Thursday, more than 12 hours after the fire. The home was nearly burned to the ground.
“The homes are very close together so those fire crews really did a good job of suppressing that fire despite the strong winds to make sure no other homes caught fire,” said Peter Ibarbo, a spokesman for the City of Sunland Park.
The state Fire Marshal’s Office is leading the investigation to determine the cause of the blaze.