Retired Albuquerque firefighter brings awareness on Instagram

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A recently retired firefighter is using social media to give people a front row seat to the local action.

From car fires, truck fires, house fires, Albuquerque firefighters have seen it all.

“Wildfires are a big thing here now, hazardous material calls, medical calls, the old fallen and I can’t get up thing. No, we pick up grandmas and grandpas in the middle of the night pretty frequently,” said Eric Knight a retired Albuquerque firefighter. 

Knight saw it all for more than two decades. He retired from the department last year, but is still part of the Albuquerque Retirees Association, and works with the local firefighters union.

“I’ve lived here my whole life, so I’ve always wanted to work for Albuquerque,” said Knight. 

And he’s grown to love to document the work too. He’s the face behind “afdfirewire” on Instagram.

“Early in my career I was told to try and document it,” said Knight. “They’re really tiny videos just to give you a glimpse at what it’s like to be so close to a fire, or to almost be in it. Just like anything else it’s part of history, the firefighters, and it’s part of what we do.”

Knight says AFR has responded to about 110,000 calls this year

“People don’t talk about that, but that’s busy when you think about the nation, and that’s what the account was designed to do too, show that your fire department is out there and they’re busy and they’re working hard,” Knight said.

And he says other places are starting to notice.

“Other fire departments will reach out to me and ask for tactics of what we do in certain scenarios, unions have reached out to us asking what our staffing is or how our trucks are designed,” said Knight. 

No matter how draining it might be they’re always ready for the next call.

“Knowing that there’s that one call that will come in where they make a difference, because it’ll happen,” said Knight.