ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s a state-of-the-art facility, aimed at saving crucial minutes responding to fires and medical emergencies in one of the most densely populated and under-served areas of the Metro.
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Long needed on Albuquerque’s busy westside, Bernalillo County Fire Rescue hopes the new Fire Station 66 can save units as many as 18 minutes on some emergency calls.
BCFR Spokesman William Harris said, “This is going to drastically decrease our response time to this area. When before we would have to come all the way up Atrisco Vista. Now we’re going to be in a centralized location to this expanding area within the county.”
The county’s first new fire station in over 25 years is now more than half-complete at Central and Atrisco Vista. The facility will include a four-garage bay,11 bunks, training areas, office space, and more. “We’re going to have a kitchen, a dayroom, as well as our eating area. Just like you would have at your own home. It’s our home away from home,” said Harris.
Five fire vehicles will eventually be housed there including an engine, an ambulance, a brush truck, and a tender for when crews need to bring water to a scene. They will be implementing a new pull-thru system in the apparatus bay. That system will cut the time it would normally take to back vehicles out to allow for quicker response times.
“It’s long overdue and we’re excited to finally you know, in December, have this station up and running and just serve the public,” said Harris.
BCFD said the biggest time savings for the station will come in their response to the Metropolitan Detention Center which will cut travel time from 25 to seven minutes.
