My dad’s locally owned RV repair shop burned down on 6/28/24 due to an RV refrigerator with a known recall that had been addressed by the manufacturer, but still failed. He needs help to continue to provide essential services to the thousands of people in his community that depend on his business to keep their homes livable and to retain the employees that rely on his shop to maintain their livelihood. He’s a hard working veteran and even after this devastating fire he has donated parts and labor to support the Red Cross’s efforts in the Ruidoso fires. He has worked tirelessly for over 30 years as the only RV repair service in Sierra County, NM. Any donations would help him and the community he supports greatly.

The fire destroyed the building structure, all tools, equipment, and parts that were stored inside, employee property, security systems, electrical/plumbing, lighting, etc.. These damages number in the $500k range, but our first and foremost concern is to keep his employees paid and keep mobile services running.

Any funds raised will be focused toward retaining employees, replacing their lost property, and to provide the basics for keeping mobile services running to support his community. This includes the homes of those in Sierra County as well as the many visitors that come to Elephant Butte and support the local economy. After this is accomplished, we can use any remaining contributions to support rebuilding the rest of the business.

He has shared his story below:

First a little background so you get an idea how I got to where I am in this business. I got started nit picking the inner workings of RV’s in 1984 and soon found myself working at an RV dealership in Albuquerque, NM. In 1990, I cut loose and opened my own shop in ABQ, until 1997 when I found the opportunity to escape ABQ, and moved my business to a quiet little town in southern NM called Elephant Butte. We sit right next to the biggest lake in NM and it is the #1 destination spot in NM for RVer’s.

When I first arrived here, I was a home-based business doing only mobile service to the RV parks in the lake area, of which there are many. The business grew, and in 2011, I purchased an RV and boat storage business. I soon built a parts store, and then put up a shop so we could have “in shop” service. This grew my business to a point where we still provided mobile service and in shop service, and supported 4 employees to keep it all running.

We are the only RV service center in Sierra County and do our best to keep everyone’s RV’s working good. There are about 30 RV parks around here and I would guess a couple thousand people that live in RV’s permanently. This makes us a much needed service here and we do our best to keep up.

Ok, fast forward to June 18, 2024. We had a motorhome in our shop overnight, during which its refrigerator caught fire and burned out our shop and most everything in it. As of today, July 13th, we are still waiting for all the different investigators to finish their inspections and reports before they will let us start the clean up process. Our building, I am told, will have to be replaced as the structural integrity is now in question. As it turns out, I’m finding out I had no insurance for this kind of disaster, which was big news to me. I thought my insurance agent had us properly covered. Lesson learned here: do not assume your insurance agent has “got you covered.” Ask questions, be very clear on what you have.

Fortunately, our parts store, business office and mobile service truck escaped undamaged, so we are not totally out of business, but we no longer have a shop, and will have great difficulty getting that replaced. This greatly impacts our capability to keep up with the service this community needs. We are not giving up, business will go on as we are able.

O'Neill’s RV Services

300 Rock Canyon Rd.

Elephant Butte, NM 87935-1629

Owner: Rick O’Neill