By Mary Alice Murphy

A family home belonging to Paula Norero burned to the ground on Friday, but not before she was pulled from the blaze.

Paula Holguin, Norero's daughter, said early Friday morning her nephew, Chris Valencia, came knocking at her door.

"It was still early, and he was pounding on the door," Holguin said. "I was a little reluctant to open it because I didn't know who it was. I was thinking it might be a thief; I was thinking the worst."

Holguin said she thought her nephew was in California, because he just graduated from boot camp for the Marines.

"When I opened the door, he was saying, 'Auntie, it's me, Chris,'" Holguin said. "'Your mom's house is full of smoke and fire.' He shook his head back and forth in a no manner."

"I said, 'No, No, No,'" Holguin said.

Because she was in shock, she doesn't remember exactly what happened next, but said she got her things together and they drove back to the house. She said she was told to move her car back because the house was likely to explode.

"They had already pulled her out, before the house really went up in flames," Holguin said, in between tears and sobs.

She said Chris and his dad, Sheriff's deputy Mike Valencia, were going coyote hunting, and drove by Norero's house and noticed smoke. Mike called 911 and Chris tried to break down the front door, but it wouldn't give. He went to the other door and got the second one to break. He ran into the house and had to run back out for air, because of the smoke. He went in again, and she was in the hallway right by the bathroom. He picked her up and carried her out.

"After she was out, because my mom was on oxygen,  all the bottles started exploding," Holguin said. "It really set the fire going. Fire trucks started showing up. It took them all day to extinguish the fire." Billy Mize, Sheriff's Deputy for the Mimbres, was also on scene, she said.

The fire investigator from Alamogordo was called, as was the OMI.

"Yes, Mom was already gone, when they pulled her out, but at least she didn't burn to death," Holguin said. "They will do an autopsy to determine the cause of death, whether it was smoke or not.

"She was 88, and would have been 89 on March 2," Holguin continued.

Paula Norero was born and raised in Porterville, Calif.

"Dad and she moved to San Juan in 1971," Holguin said. "They owned the Valley Store in San Juan. They built the home that just burned down and added on to it later. Mom worked at the Kmart in Silver City for 17 years and retired from there. Dad worked for the Grant County Road Department. I lost him in 1988 to cancer."

Holguin said the Upper Mimbres Volunteer Fire Department and the Lower Mimbres VFD, whose station is less than a half a mile away from the home, responded to the fire.

She said the services for her mother would take place at 5:30 Wednesday, Jan. 18, at Baca's Funeral Chapels and the funeral would be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, with burial to follow in the family cemetery.