LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Firefighters are still on the scene of a major fire in Las Cruces' South valley. The call came in just before 9 a.m. Thursday from the Aldershot Nursury.

Firefighters from all over Dona Ana County were called in to assist. A sergeant with the sheriff's department said nearly every volunteer company responded with a vehicle to assist.

“I looked out the door this morning and I saw smoke and smoke was pretty high, and the next thing I heaRd was the fire trucks and the fire engines,” said Conrado DeLa Cruz, of the South Valley.

The Aldershot Nursery was at first said to have caught fire by a space heater, but the cause may not be known for a while.

“At this time, we still don't have an origin or cause of the fire, which is still under investigation, and we probably won't get an answer until the fire is out,” said Sgt. Michael Kinney with the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Department.

Kinney says 50 to 60 employees were evacuated, and taken to a nearby elementary school which at one point was expected to be evacuated as well.

“I see that it flared up again. Evidently there is something in there the fire department has not been able to keep it down,” said DeLa Cruz..

“Aldershot does do some industrial type of stuff so there is a lot of plastics and chemicals that are there. Also when you're looking at agriculture, there's a lot of fertilizers and things of that nature that when they burn can put off some toxic or nasty smelling chemicals,” said Kinney.

“We've seen some fires and things but nothing that bad,” said neighbor Donna Baumgartner.

She helped volunteers by giving them water as they pumped water from hydrants into several trucks.

The water in her home was disrupted for a short while.

“Well it was rusty at first. It's just fine now,” Baumgartner said.

The fire may have lasted so long because of water issues. A spokesman for the county said there were no hydrants around the building.