After seeing an increase in people starting fires just to stay warm in the International District, the Albuquerque Fire Department has stationed a brush truck to patrol the area, kob.com reported.
The goal is to help reduce some of the calls firefighters are getting in already busy parts of town like the east Central corridor, the report said.
The department responded to more than 1,000 outside fires (warming fires or dumpster fires) in November, which is up from 800 in November of 2022, according to the report. In order to meet that demand, the department has stationed a brush truck to patrol the International District.
“The outside fire response pilot program is live,” Albuquerque Fire Rescue said Saturday, Dec. 30 in a Facebook post. “Brush 3 went into service this morning at Station 3. Brush 3 will be responding to calls and patrolling the areas of East Central to help Stations 5, 11, 12 and 13 which experience the highest volume of outside fire responses.”
Brush 3, a 2006 F550, is assigned to the Wildland Division as a Type 5 brush truck, the fire department said in the post. It is being temporarily repurposed to respond to outside fires in Albuquerque’s busiest districts to help reduce call volume for AFR’s busiest engine companies. This response model should also keep those companies available for medical emergencies and large fire responses.
