The City of Gallup wishes to advise its utility customers to be on alert for a consumer scam.

Recently, several customers reported receiving phone calls from a (347) area code demanding payment for a delinquent utility bill to be paid with a credit card over the phone to prevent the shutoff of utility services.

“The City of Gallup will not call its customers to demand payments to be made over the telephone by credit card to prevent shutoff due to delinquent status,” the city stated in an Oct. 1 press release. “Should the City of Gallup contact you regarding your bill, the caller identification will state that the call is from the ‘City of Gallup.’”

Contact the city’s...

McKinley County firefighters were unable to save a house in Williams Acres that caught fire the afternoon of Oct. 10.

McKinley County Fire  Chief Jason Carlisle said the house at 16 Zeta St. was a total loss. Over the years, he said, the house had several additions and was too far gone when county firefighters arrived on the scene.

According to fire logs, county firefighters arrived on the scene about eight minutes after receiving the initial call at 10:38 am.

Units from five county fire stations responded to the call, as well as four units from the City of Gallup fire department.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

At the McKinley County Board of Commissioners regular commissioner meeting Oct. 2, Jeff Irving, county roads superintendent, gave a presentation from the New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps about continuous improvements on county hiking trails over an eight-week span.

Trails near Wingate and Mentmore were the focus of these projects, allowing local youth to take part in improving and maintaining the trails for the public.

Irving spoke for the item on the agenda, which pertained to eligibility and intent of McKinley County to submit an application to the New Mexico Department of Transportation for Federal Fiscal Year 2020/2021 for the RTP funds.

Irving said these efforts are between the...

Fire department to conduct smoke-detector checks

The City of Gallup declared Oct. 7 - 13 as Fire Prevention Week at the Oct. 9 regular city council meeting.

At the meeting, the Gallup Fire Department was presented with a proclamation by the city for Fire Prevention Week, which involves basic fire-safety education for the public.

At the meeting, Mayor Jackie McKinney shared a few statistics. For instance, he said 352,000 house fires are responded to every year across the country, with about 2,735 deaths resulting from those fires.

A key theme of Fire Prevention Week is to “Look, Listen, Learn,” McKinney said. “We need to take personal steps to increase our safety from...