By Roger Lanse
On Saturday, March 7, 2026, around 10:30 a.m., visitors to the Henry V. "La Burra" Morales Recreation Center in Silver City were ordered to evacuate the building. The cause for the evacuation, according to Silver City Police Department Chief Freddie Portillo, was someone reported a smell of something burning, possibly electrical wiring.
Silver City Fire Department personnel from Station 2 arrived on scene with the building already evacuated by Rec Center staff. Searching the premises. Battalion Chief Nate Schwarz, said they could find nothing smoking, and could not even smell smoke.
Portillo and Schwarz told the Beat the incident was "really nothing," and that "everything was okay." The evacuation order was lifted around 11 a.m., Schwarz said.
