San Juan County Fire & Rescue Consolidates Districts to Better Serve County Residents
Volunteer members, staff continue to serve all of San Juan County

Aztec, NM—Starting on February 1, 2024, San Juan County’s 10 fire districts will be united together as one, the general public will see no difference in service.

San Juan County’s first fire departments were established in the 1950s and created to serve specific geographic areas across the county. These volunteer organizations responded to their friends’ and neighbors’ emergencies for many years. In the early 2000s, the need was recognized to consolidate in the interest of more efficient administration of these districts. That need spurred the creation of the San Juan County Fire Department. Since that time, each district has maintained its unique identity and continued to serve their specific geographical region, under the administration support of the San Juan County Fire Department, and later San Juan County Fire & Rescue. More than 20 years later, the need has arisen to further consolidate to better serve the public.

On February 1, all districts will further consolidate to one Fire Department Identification number, or FDID. Previously, each district maintained an individual FDID. This move means that San Juan County Fire & Rescue will be evaluated, as a whole, for Insurance Service Organization ratings (ISO). It is anticipated that this consolidation of apparatus, personnel, and resources will result in improved responses and therefore lower ISO ratings, and lower insurance rates. Updated ISO ratings will be awarded in early 2025.

While there may be changes to signage or badging on apparatus, the changes are intended to improve service to the residents in unincorporated parts of the County. The county will be broken into four regions of service, but members will be able to respond to more than their home region.
San Juan County Fire & Rescue has 28 fire stations, 128 pieces of apparatus (including one fire boat), serves more than 5,000 square miles, and responds to more than 9,000 calls a year (about 25 per day). There are about 130 volunteer members, 19 uniformed fulltime staff, and 10 administration staff. San Juan County Fire & Rescue currently operates the Bloomfield Fire Department by contract, there will be no change to operations or FDID for Bloomfield.

-30-