ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – If you drove down the Central Corridor this winter, you probably saw a lot of outdoor fires.

Thanks to a new pilot program, Albuquerque Fire Rescue wasn’t far behind to put them out. 

“While the fire may have been lit simply to warm individuals outdoors or to help cook their food, many of these fires are lit in areas that are dangerous to these individuals or surrounding structures,” aid AFR Chief Emily Jaramillo.   

In 2023, AFR responded to 1,174 outside fire calls. A sharp increase in December led them to add a new truck into the rotation to take on these calls.

“In 2024 we have already responded to 2,130 outside fires. That is almost double the number we ran in 2023, and we are about 7-8 weeks into the 2024. In that time period, in 2024, Brush 3 has taken about 1,100 of those calls,” said Jaramillo.  

Jaramillo says the proactive measure has paid off in more than one way. 

“This has really helped keep our frontline resources available for those higher fire and EMS calls that we also are responding to in this area,” Jaramillo said.  

They have also turned to other city partners to address the issue.

“We have been thankfully trained by fire for small fires, we can help put those out. For larger ones, we do almost always require AFR and APD to come out and assess and address those,” said Albuquerque Community Safety Director Mariela Ruiz-Angel.

Responding to these calls has allowed ACS to offer its services. They’ve had an increase in transportation calls to hospitals, nonprofits, and shelters. 

“Taken more than 600 transportation calls just to get people off the streets, and we see that number increasing,” Ruiz-Angel said.

There are eight firefighters temporarily assigned to the brush truck. They are going to keep evaluating the data to determine how long they want to keep the brush truck in service.