Santa Fe County and City Fire Join Forces

By Santa Fe County

The Santa Fe County Fire Department and City of Santa Fe Fire Department marked a momentous occasion with a first ever joint wildland deployment to assist with lightning caused fires seven miles north of Hope, Idaho in the Idaho Panhandle National Forests.

The two fire departments, with a total of seven vehicles and 24 personnel are represented by members of the Atalaya and Black Canyon Hand Crews who began their deployment to Idaho early Wednesday morning July 14. The crews will travel for the next several days until they reach the incident command center, which set up in Sandpoint, Idaho. Once the teams arrive, they will begin working to mitigate the fires for at least the next two weeks, before beginning their two-day journey back to New Mexico.

“This is the first time the Santa Fe and Santa Fe County Fire Departments have been dispatched out of state for a joint wildland deployment,” Santa Fe County Fire Chief Jackie Lindsay explained. “The experience gained by these types of deployments help professionally develop our personnel, gives them an opportunity to hone their skills on larger incidents, and bringing back this expertise to our community. Working as a single team makes us stronger and improves the service we provide to our residents.”

Working under what is expected to be above average temperatures, the crews are replacing teams already in place that are “timing out” of their deployment. Currently, the Trestle Creek Complex fire is currently 5% contained and is expected to burn through mid-August.

For more information, please contact Santa Fe County Fire Prevention Specialist Jeff Folgate at 505-995-6517 orjjfolgate@santafecountynm.gov or Santa Fe Fire Assistant Chief Phil Martinez at 505-231-3294 orpmartinez@santafenm.gov.