Lybrook volunteer firefighters may get another chance to rejuvenate their long-dormant department after the Rio Arriba County Commission decided Oct. 30 not to immediately close the station.
State and County officials have recorded evidence over the past two years that suggests the Lybrook Fire Department has been inactive and unresponsive, according to County records. The state Fire Marshal has frozen Lybrook’s funds except for expenditures on utilities, according to a letter from the Fire Marshal. County Comptroller Mary Louise Martinez said the cost of providing water, gas, phone and electric services to the station has been about $420 a month, with $1,714 going to utility companies since July.
The Department was established in 1982 and rents storage space from the Williams Companies, which operates a gas processing plant in Lybrook, for a nominal annual fee. The town is located in a remote corner of Rio Arriba just east of San Juan County.
“I moved into the area about a year ago, and about three months ago, some of the former people on the fire department had been trying to make some progress to get the station re-established,” Lybrook Chief Larry Ham said. “We’ve probably got 10 or 12 that are very active in trying to get this going.”
County Fire Marshal Jerome Sanchez said the last time he inspected the station with the state Fire Marshal, no one from the Lybrook Department showed up, and the station was infested with mice and chipmunks. Required training sessions and monthly meetings were not being conducted, and equipment — including a pumper truck, engine, rescue unit and brush truck — was not being cared for; the pumper wouldn’t even start during an inspection, Sanchez said.
Sanchez said the County has been trying to get support for the Department from the community of Lybrook. There wasn’t much of a response, however, in part because of Lybrook’s small population. The nearest post office is in Counselor, and the 2000 census states about 1,000 people live in the zip code.
“There was no real interest,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said the County also quantified the steps the Department needed to take and gave a list to the previous chief Bur Lee.
“We never heard anything from him,” Sanchez said. “They just wouldn’t budge.”
According to state law, departments that “cease to operate and function” for a period of 90 days or more can be closed. The state Fire Marshal’s office issued a letter to the County dated May 9, 2007, in which it told Sanchez to freeze the Lybrook department’s account and not allow any major purchases because of the department’s unresponsiveness. As of Sept. 30, 2008, the department had $183,185 in its County-held account.
Sanchez said keeping it open would amount to “false hope” for the community, and if something were to happen the County could be sued.
However, San Juan County Commissioner Ervin Chavez approached Rio Arriba County about the possibility of keeping the Department open. He said the remoteness of the area combined with the dangers of Highway 550 mean the Department is needed, and a meeting between Chavez and County officials is scheduled for Nov. 7. He acknowledged the Lybrook Department had been inactive.
“At one point, there was nobody that was volunteering or going to some of these incidents that are occurring on the highway or in nearby communities,” Chavez said.
San Juan County Fire Chief Larry Marcum also said the Lybrook Department has been practically “out of existence.” However, he said volunteers from Lybrook started responding over the summer.
Lybrook firefighter Leroy Lopez said he just started getting involved a few months ago; he said he and other volunteers have been working recently to “get things in order.”
“There’s a need for it in the community,” he said.
County Commissioner Felipe Martinez said he will attend the meeting with Chavez, but he said Lybrook will be responsible for cleaning up the Department in the end.
“If the department is closed, its remaining funds will be returned to the state treasury, and the equipment the County collects will be distributed to other departments.
A department inventory shows Lybrook is in possession of items including jaws of life, computer equipment, a hose tester and radios.
Lindrith Fire Chief Scott Gasser said the County asked the departments in Lindrith and Coyote to cover the Lybrook fire district if the department closes.