Jerry-rigged wiring may have caused fatal fire in Juarez

Clandestine electrical hookups pose fire hazard to 70,000 homes in Mexican border city, official says

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Juarez officials say a homemade electrical hookup might have sparked Tuesday’s fire that killed eight people inside two homes in a working-class neighborhood.

The fire claimed the lives of brothers Aaron and Jose Luis Ramirez Franco, their spouses and children. The fire started on the roof near the entrance of the duplex, which prevented the occupants from escaping, said Roberto Briones, head of Juarez’s Civil Protection Department.

“People can have a regular (electrical hookup), their meter, their fuse box, but we have detected (clandestine) connections to save on electricity costs,” Briones said. “What happens if there’s a short-circuit the fuse won’t interrupt the electricity and the power keeps flowing and that can lead to a fire.”

Border Report documented several clandestine hookups not only in the Mexico 68 neighborhood where eight people died but also in other working-class neighborhoods like Lomas de Poleo. The local office of Mexico’s Federal Electricity Commission has told Juarez municipal officials that as many as 70,000 homes are illegally hooked up to their utility poles.

“We are always at risk here, but our authorities say there are no resources. The years go by and it’s those of us who are poor who suffer” the consequences, said Salvador Aguero, a resident of Lomas de Poleo who worries about neighbors’ homes catching on fire and the flames spreading to his residence.

Briones said the blaze at the Ramirezes’ dwelling spread quickly while the two families slept inside. Firefighters found the victims huddled inside a bathroom and a bedroom because the flames engulfed the only exit to the duplex.

He disputed relatives’ allegations that the firefighters were late in arriving at the scene and said the victims likely died of smoke inhalation and did not burn to death.