ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque Fire Rescue said they put out more outdoor fires in 2024 than in years past, thanks to new equipment.
AFR crews responded to 4,000 more outside fire calls last year compared to 2023. They said these numbers help them figure out where their resources need to be.
“Brush fires is where we probably saw our biggest significant increase, which also impacted overall call volume. We are at about 6,500 outside fires in 2023. In 2024, we are up around 10,300. We saw a big jump there in outside fires,” said Albuquerque Fire Rescue Public Information Officer Lt. Jason Fejer.
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AFR said they attribute the increase in responses to their newer Brush 3 outside fire response truck, which focuses on smaller outside fires, especially in the International District and Northeast Heights. Last year, they also got a new UTV unit that helps with fires in the Bosque, in areas that bigger trucks can’t get to while also freeing up resources.
Looking at the volume of all the department’s calls, fire and medical, AFR said there were more than 104,000 calls in 2024 compared to around 97,000 in 2023. That increase, they said, is largely due to those outside fires.
“The small outside fires, warming fires, cooking fires, those are the fires that we’re kind of targeting with Brush 3. That’s one of the reasons that truck was put into service—we don’t need a 40,000-pound type one engine with a 2,000 gallon per minute pump going to put out a warming fire, small fire, or cooking fire,” said Lt. Fejer.
In 2024, AFR said they responded to 324 significant structure fires compared to 342 in 2023. They called those numbers a positive trend. The department said local ambulance services have helped take over medical calls, freeing their department to focus on fires and other areas. AFR expects about 14 new recruits to graduate soon, with another cadet class starting in the fall.
Albuquerque Fire Rescue expects to get a new rescue unit, ladder trucks, and several pump trucks this year. The department is also looking forward to some needed upgrades to fire station 12 near Central and Juan Tabo, which is one of their busiest stations.