A fire broke out in the Occidental Life Building early on the morning of April 25, 1933, causing an estimated $100,000 in damage before firefighters managed to extinguish it around noon that day. The building was mostly gutted, though the exterior walls remained intact up to the roofline. The "Albuquerque Journal" reported that the fire was thought to have started "between the ceiling and the roof in the northeast corner of the building". The fire occurred just hours after the burning of another Albuquerque landmark, the Fourth Ward School (replaced the following year by Lew Wallace Elementary), leading police and local residents to suspect arson.