VIDEO: Albuquerque Fire Rescueโs โOutside Fire Responseโ program is up and running for the season, kicking off Monday night. The designated โfast attack engineโ will remain available during the overnight hours through the duration of the season to put out small outside fires before they grow and threaten structures.
This is the third season Albuquerque Fire Rescue has run this program targeting outside fires. Crews already took out eight fires on their first night Monday, and theyโre expecting thousands more in the months ahead. โThe focus of this truck is to address those smaller cooking fires, warming fires, and small trash fires,โ Jason Fejer said.
AFRโs โOutside Fire Responseโ program started as a pilot in December of 2023 to handle the increase in the number of outside fires during the colder months, specifically on East Central and in the Northeast Heights. Crews primarily see warming fires, cooking fires and trash fires in this program. โAny uncontained fire or any unattended fire has a potential to spread and create a structure fire, and thatโs what weโre trying to avoid,โ Fejer said. โSo hopefully we can get there and get these fires when theyโre small so they donโt escalate into a structure fire.โ
In December 2024, AFR brought a new F-350 into service to be the designated truck for this program. It has a high pressure pump and a 150 gallon water tank. Crews in the โfast attack engineโ answer almost 30 calls every 24 hours during peak season of this program. โIn the time it ran last season from November into April, it ran almost 3,500 calls,โ Fejer said. โThatโs as many calls as some of our trucks run in a year.โ
