Around 1989 or 1990 the Red River Fire Department realized structure fire was not the town's real threat; it was wildland fire. They started crosstraining their firefighters in 1994 with 131-190, Basic Wildland training. Today, a vast majority of the volunteers are wildland trained and red carded.

The Red River Fire Department is predominately a volunteer organization. Three paid staff and about 36 volunteers respond to fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) calls for this town of 484 residents. The town hires two 2-man crews from mid May to mid September when calls increase significantly.

Education efforts

On May 6, 1996 the Hondo fire ignited southwest of Red River. The fire burned though the community of Lama, up to the town of Questa and within five miles of Red River. The town was evacuated for three days. The Hondo fire burned 8,000 acres and destroyed 34 structures. After the Hondo fire, Red River began educating the community on the wildfire threat. One of the biggest challenges is the high number of seasonal residents who show up in June and fade in numbers after Labor Day. Many vacationers are from less wooded environs and Red River's wooded character is highly appealing. Unfortunately, this also creates a culture that can be resistant to thinning and cutting trees. The initial education effort started in 1996 though public meetings held three or four times a year, targeting the months when the greatest numbers of homeowners were available to attend.

Red River tried a different education strategy in 1998. The town sent out two mailings that targeted seasonal homeowners. The goals of the mailings were to create an awareness of the wildfire risks and offer access to resources designed to reduce those risks. However, the town considered the mailings a disappointment. They sent out about 1000 letters in each mailing and only 2 or 3 people responded to the resources offered. Surprisingly, the town found the event that sparked the most interest was the onset of actual thinning projects. After the thinning on the first properties were completed the Fire Department received hundreds of phone calls from people inquiring about the projects. It gave the town an opportunity to explain the program one-on-one to a large group of people they might not have had the opportunity to reach.

Red River's education efforts also included a one day FIREWISE program in combination with the local community of Angel Fire in May 2002.

Emergency notification

The telephone zone concept is used to notify area residents of an emergency. The town clerk maintains a list of names and numbers for people who volunteer as zone leaders. All zone leaders are called with emergency information who in turn passes the information on to the people assigned in their zone. If the town clerk is unable to reach a zone leader, then he or she calls the people within that zone. As an extra precaution, volunteer firemen visit each subdivision and knock on doors to ensure all people receive the evacuation or emergency notification.

The Taos zone

The Red River Fire Department operates within the Taos Zone District for coordination. All agencies with land management responsibilities in the Taos Zone coordinate fire suppression actions, including training and daily operations of the Zone Coordination Center. When a wildfire is called in, the closest available fire resource responds. In most cases the Red River Fire Department will respond to a wildfire on Forest Service land in the vicinity of the town. Red River will size up the fire including whose land is burning, whose land is threatened, the anticipated resources needed and then coordinate through the Taos Zone Coordination Center located in Taos, NM. The Taos Zone stretches across northern New Mexico.

 

Red River's strategic plan

Ron Burnham has been the Red River Fire Chief since 1984. After the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire in California, he became concerned about community vulnerability if resources are not in place to deal with catastrophic fire events. In 1996, Burnham enlisted the help of the US Forest Service (USFS) and NM State Forestry (NMSF). They began by examining the topology and vegetation in the community to understand where the wildfire threat was greatest and what impact a fire would have. Shortly after, the Hondo fire burned within five miles of Red River. Suddenly the whole community realized the potential for wildfire. Ron Thibedeau, Questa District Ranger (USFS), George Devise, Carson National Forest Assistant Fire Management Officer (USFS) and Ernie Lopez, Cimerron District Forester (NMSF) worked with Red River and developed a strategic plan. The USFS brought in two fuels technicians and pulled together all the historical data relative to wildfires, ran some modeling charts, took all the fire history since 1977 and produced a planning document called "Why Here? Why Now?". The document outlines a monitoring plan, a public participation plan and proposed practices for implementation over the next five to ten years. But few funds were available at that time and the plan's implementation progress was slow. In 2000 when National Fire Plan Community Assistance grants became available, Red River was ready with prioritized projects. The town was awarded grants through the 20 Communities Cost-share Program, Four Corners and USFS Economic Action Program.