In the period of two years between 2021 and 2023, Albuquerque Fire Rescue said the number of fires it responded to increased by more than 500% — mostly due to encampments along East Central Avenue.
The dramatic increase spurred the department to ask Mayor Tim Keller to include funding for two new medical trucks — which can also be used for outside fires — in the budget he presented to the City Council in April.
Keller didn’t include that funding in the budget, but the department did receive state funding to support one new medical truck, said Fire Chief Emily Jaramillo.
The funding for the new truck — which will be housed at Station 9 on Menaul Boulevard near Eubank Boulevard — is for four months, according to Lt. Jason Fejer, a spokesperson for AFR. After that time, if AFR is satisfied with the truck and can secure additional funding, the department will make it permanent.
“If the data shows there is a need for this additional rescue, then it should help to justify the request to staff the truck permanently,” Fejer said. “We will pursue another medic unit on East Central as well.”
Jaramillo said the highest rise in calls for medical emergencies was in the Southeast and Southwest areas and on San Mateo Boulevard near I-40.
“Many residents have challenges finding primary care or accessing medical care and rely on 911 or emergency rooms for care,” Jaramillo said. “In areas with increasing population density, especially areas that have higher populations of underserved residents, AFR is experiencing rises in call volume.”
The medical truck and brush truck — a truck that is used for smaller fires — AFR currently uses were “proving invaluable in reducing the response of frontline apparatus to the increasing call volumes,” according to a document requesting the funding.
The medical truck and brush truck respond to less serious calls, so the frontline trucks are available to respond to more severe calls.
The new truck will specifically respond to emergency medical services, behavioral health and substance use calls at San Mateo Boulevard near I-40 and the southeast area of the city. The department also received state funding to cover shifts with overtime.
“The overall goal is to add resources where demand is high to make the workload on AFR’s busiest apparatus more manageable for crews,” Fejer said.
While the new truck will help AFR gear up for the increase in fires and call volume, Jaramillo said it is also training staff through its wildland division and initiating a “smart dispatch system” used by its medically trained dispatchers to “increase system efficiency.”
“Every year AFR prepares personnel through training and has the equipment ready to not only assist with fires within Albuquerque but also with our neighbors in the state that are experiencing the devastation of wildfires, such as the recent fires in Ruidoso,” Jaramillo said. “We also have fire prevention initiatives through our community risk reduction programs and rely on public education to increase awareness.”
Nonprofit journalism like this depends on readers like you. This story is supported by City Desk ABQ, a nonprofit newsroom project of Citizen Media Group supporting news and politics coverage that inspires readers to participate in local democracy. Become a supporter to keep City Desk free and support nonprofit, independent journalists covering politics and policy f0r New Mexico newsrooms.