The fires started last winter, John Isham, Ííná Bá Inc. environmental manager, said about the consistent burning of the abandoned Bureau of Indian Affairs buildings northwest of the U.S. Highway 64 and U.S. Highway 491 intersection.
On Thursday, Navajo Nation Fire Department worked to extinguish a fire started at another building closest to the Wells Fargo Bank. This would be the second fire within the week, with another fire seen Wednesday in the same area.
EQM Services, an Ohio-based environmental consultant, was contracted by BIA, which whon turn hired Ííná Bá Inc., Isham said.
EQM Services describes their services as remediation and site assessment service with a streamlined procurement process.
“They're just overseeing it,” he said. “They're not doing any of the work.”
Starting the abatement process, Isham said he hired a company to remove the asbestos from the buildings.
The abandoned buildings have served as an encampment and in the winter it was presumed the fires were coming from an escalated fire from trying to stay warm inside the buildings, Isham said.
“But this has still been going on and it's accelerated,” he said.
In response, fences have been placed around the buildings for safety but that has not stopped the fires.
“So now I think it's just anger and retaliation,” Isham said.
So far, seven or eight buildings have been burned by the same individual, according to Isham.
Isham said the workers have seen the individual crawl from a building window that had smoke emerging from it in the middle of the day. The alleged arsonist jumped the fence and rode away on a bike.
“We're just we're just trying to do the job to clean the property up, but we're spending more time chasing fires and protecting workers,” he said.
With only a few more buildings standing, the plan is to remove the asbestos before the individual returns.
“He’s gonna come back,” Isham said.
Without the fires, the company was set to remove the asbestos and complete a regular demolition process with the property being cleared by late fall, according to Isham.
The property is to be used for a Shiprock hotel and restaurant after Navajo Nation Council approved legislation allocating $11.4 million in funding to the Navajo Nation Hospitality Enterprise, according to a Navajo Nation news release in 2022.
“A hotel and Navajo-inspired restaurant for the community of Shiprock is one step closer to being a reality,” former speaker Seth Damon said. “The Navajo Nation welcomes thousands of tourists annually who visit the Four Corners region and will make this new hotel a business hub.”
