ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Fire season generally ramps up around March, but experts told KOB 4 every year it starts earlier and earlier. So, Albuquerque Fire Rescue is packed up and ready to go.

“The Wildland Task Force, we have a few stations in the department that we have high-level trained firefighters that can work with these trucks. These are specialty trucks that will deploy in the event of a wildfire,” said AFR Capt. Juan Carrillo. 

The Albuquerque National Weather Service is forecasting a very active fire season this year.

“We’ve already had a whole bunch of critical fire days dating back to January, actually for the first time ever our office issued a red flag warning during the month of January. Fire season started earlier than it has and now that we are in the peak of it we are in the swing of things,” said Matt DeMaria, a NWS meteorologist. 

DeMaria says this is just the beginning. New Mexicans can expect a fair amount of extreme fire weather days the rest of April through early June.

“When we have the strongest winds, very little if any precipitation, one lightning that can contribute to more fire starts, so that is really the peak season,” said DeMaria. 

To stay on top of it, AFR is implementing their wildland task force. Once the National Weather Service issues watches, the task force will be placed on a “standby” status to increase response times. 

“We are in the desert, we have a large open space and the city which involves the West Mesa, the Valley, and the Foothills. We are in charge, and we have to be ready to protect that,” said Carrillo. 

From there, AFR can call for Level 1 or 2 patrols, depending on the wildfire threat. AFR says all of their firefighters are red card trained, meaning all of them are able to respond to wildland fires.