ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – An exploding water main left a Northeast Heights home badly damaged, and the homeowner’s service dog missing. That was more than a week ago and since then, neighbors and strangers have been trying to find the dog. “I think she’s in that garage, but I need to know so I can start the grief cycle,” said Rose Romero, homeowner.
Story continues below
Wildfire: Ruidoso firefighters share what they experienced on the first day of the South Fork Fire
Podcast: How Grief Is Impacting New Mexico’s Youth
News: Albuquerque City Council considers lowering base wages for workers who get tips
Trending: 50 cases involving San Miguel County deputy have been dismissed
Romero came back home on Wednesday with a group of volunteers and neighbors looking for her 14-year-old service dog Ivy. Rose is partially blind, and Ivy has been helping her for the last 14 years. “I just want to know if she is in there, I want to know because we have so many other people coming into the picture, they want to go searching. I hate for them to keep searching while she might be in the garage,” said Romero.
The water main break happened in late July shooting a geyser out of the ground, shattering windows, and caving in the roof of Romero’s garage.
Since then, Ivy has been nowhere to be found. “We’ve been trying to get people together to just do search and rescue or searching for the dog,” said Jennifer Lowery, volunteer.
Last Sunday, roughly 30 people came out to search the neighborhood near the home as well as the park and arroyos. “We’ve been going to just different homeless communities looking for the dog with homeless people that probably don’t know that we are searching,” said Lowery.
Romero believes if Ivy had run away, she would have come back by now, which is what prompted Tuesday’s search of the collapsed garage. One volunteer brought a dog to sniff around for signs of Ivy but they had to stop the search as the garage structure was unsafe.
“Hopefully that’s where she’s at so she can get closure, and we need to get this woman either her dog back bottom line or an assistance dog,” said Becky Hutchinson, volunteer.
Romero said she is grateful for all those who have come out and searched for Ivy.
Albuquerque Fire Rescue arrived late Tuesday afternoon to examine the structural damage. They carved a hole in the garage wall, but it is still too unstable for anyone to go inside.
