Volunteer fire departments throughout Rio Arriba County are having to order new equipment and address other deficiencies the state Fire Marshal found during inspections over the summer.
The inspections found the departments were all missing required equipment and documentation — the types of things that can lead to higher insurance premiums for residents in the deficient fire districts.
The inspections are similar to ones conducted by the International Standards Organization (ISO). ISO ratings help determine how much residents pay in homeowners’ or renters’ insurance. Allstate insurance agent Mary Archuleta, of Española, said people in areas of the County that have departments with high (poor) ratings of nine or 10 can end up paying between $200 and $250 more per year than places with lower (better) ratings of five or six.
“That does have quite a lot to do with the rate,” she said. “It is quite a big difference.”
Currently 16 of the County’s 18 fire departments have poor ratings (see sidebar), and these latest inspections show that many departments are still faraway from correcting their deficiencies.
Archuleta said Española has a rating of five, and the nearby communities of La Mesilla, Chamita and La Puebla also have ratings in that range. County Fire Marshal Jerome Sanchez said several communities near Española, such as Chamita and La Mesilla, with good water systems tend to have the lowest ratings. According to information from the Organization on its rating system, 40 percent of the ISO rating is based on a community’s water supply, including factors like having a sufficient amount of water to fight fires and the distribution of hydrants.
Chamita Fire Chief Alex Sisneros said he has been working to address the problems the inspection found, including keeping records of regular hydrant tests and ordering fire extinguishers. He said a good water system is important to an ISO rating, but he attributed Chamita’s rating of five mainly to good organization and dedicated volunteers.
“Hard work is what it all comes down to,” he said.
Fifty percent of the rating is based on factors like the number of active volunteers, the type and thoroughness of training they receive, and whether the department has required equipment on hand. Included in that part of the rating are the maintenance and testing of a department’s equipment, which was one of the most common deficiencies found in the County’s departments.
Annual “pump tests” for a department’s vehicles are required, along with yearly “hose tests” to make sure the equipment is reliable. The state Fire Marshal found that only a few departments in the County had performed regular tests on their hoses and vehicles, including Brazos Canyon, Dixon, Lindrith and Velarde. Sanchez said the County has a hose tester for departments to use, and he hopes to purchase a pump tester for the County sometime in the future, because many departments currently take their vehicles to Albuquerque to be tested, leading to periods of “down time” when the equipment is out of the district.
Many departments were also lacking fire extinguishers in their stations and required equipment on their trucks. An inspection found Abiquiú was short of breathing apparatus, hand-held lights and axes. Commonly missing from County fire vehicles were a required 2.5-gallon water extinguisher, first aid kits and “plaster hooks” used to carve away drywall and plaster to expose flames in attics or behind walls.
Sanchez said it is the responsibility of individual departments to order any missing equipment themselves. He said the County has not made plans to purchase commonly absent items with the Fire Tax Fund to distribute among the departments.
“Right now there’s been no thought given to that,” he said.
He said several departments did submit orders for equipment following the state Fire Marshal inspections. He said Abiquiú, Brazos Canyon, Chamita, Coyote, Dulce and Lindrith all ordered new equipment to address the areas where they were found to be deficient.
Lindrith Fire Chief Scott Gasser said he placed orders for new equipment like mounts for tools and nozzles so they are easily accessible. He said one issue the Fire Marshal found was that the department’s equipment and records were scattered in many locations, but that was addressed when the new station opened earlier this month. Another deficiency was a lack of hydrants in the district. Gasser said the department is moving to install storage tanks adding up to 50,000 gallons worth of water that would be available throughout the district if a fire broke out.
“We don’t have city water,” he said. “We have 300-barrel (12,600-gallon) tanks that are available to us.”
Sanchez said stations with high- and medium-range ISO ratings are reassessed every five or six years, and they have to keep up with new requirements and technological developments to maintain their ratings. Stations with higher ratings of nine or 10 work to address their deficiencies before requesting an ISO review. Sanchez said the state conducts pre-reviews to help departments prepare further.