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Taos County consolidates two northern fire districts to boost response capacity
Summary
Commissioners approved a resolution to merge two northern volunteer fire districts into Taos County Fire District 2, a move officials say will improve paging and ISO ratings and increase state funding for equipment and operations.
County officials and fire leaders asked the commission to approve a consolidation of the Federal Volunteer Fire District and the Latir Fire District into a single Taos County Fire District 2 to address volunteer retention and response capacity.
David Barela and Deputy Chief Hampton told commissioners the change would merge rosters so more responders can be credited by ISO for structure-fire responses and would qualify two main stations for improved ISO class crediting. “When you increase that roster by the secondary department and now you have 16 or 20 people on that roster… it allows more people to respond and it allows that to get to happen much faster,” Deputy Chief Hampton said, noting improved ISO ratings can increase state fire fund allocations and potentially lower homeowner insurance rates for qualifying areas.
Commissioners discussed operational impacts, training benefits and how merged dispatch paging could reduce delays; the board voted in favor of the resolution on a roll call. Staff said the consolidation aims to strengthen daytime and initial-response capacity in northern districts and to make grant and state-fire-fund eligibility more favorable to the consolidated district.
