Second in a series

Why don’t more Corraleños sign up as volunteer firefighters and emergency medical responders?

Maybe it’s because many people aren’t even aware that the Corrales Fire Department is volunteer-based. Maybe they’ve always lived where emergency response was taken for granted, and they don’t know it is any different here.

But maybe it’s because the kinds of people who most often join volunteer fire departments can’t afford to live in Corrales.

Whatever the reason, Fire Chief Anthony Martinez is searching for ways to recruit more volunteers into his department.

Of the department’s 27 members now, just four are Corrales residents.

“At one time, the fire chief had to put a cap on the number of volunteers it could take. I think it was about 50,” Martinez recalled. The limit was set because training was required for volunteers, and the Village budget couldn’t accommodate the cost of training and equipping more than 50.

Martinez was asked what has led to the situation where only four out of 27 volunteers are Corrales residents.

“I wish I knew the answer,” he replied. “That might help me to bring in more people.

“But my guess is that people’s lives have changed. More people are working two, three jobs to support their families. They have busy lives.

“Since I joined the department in 1990, I’ve seen a lot of changes in Corrales. We have more newcomers, and more people leaving.”

The department’s second paid staffer, Tanya Lattin, also noted that the nature of Corrales has changed. “The atmosphere has changed in Corrales. We used to be a rural community; we’re still rural, but the people who live here are now more professionals.

“We still have farmers and old-timers who may have had jobs outside Corrales, but they still lived the rural life and didn’t mind getting dirt,” Lattin observed.

“Corrales is now a high-dollar community. That’s not a bad thing, but maybe that means more “type-A” personalities who work hard and still manage to take their kids to soccer. Getting up at three in the morning to fight a fire or go rescue somebody may not be in your best interest if you’re a doctor or a lawyer heading in to work.”

Lattin described most of the department’s volunteers as middle class. “We have a few who are very well-off, but most of them aren’t. They’re not traveling on business or running their own companies.”

The fire chief said previous recruiting efforts have involved articles in Corrales Comment, and outreach at events like the Harvest Festival and neighborhood watch meetings.

Perhaps the most effective recruiting channel is when residents come in contact with volunteers during emergencies. “We show up at an incident, and the citizen asks, ‘Where’s the rest of your people?’

“We say, ‘Well, they’re coming,’ and that’s when people realize that it’s a volunteer fire department,” Martinez explained.

“After we’ve taken care of the incident, they ask what they can do to help, and we tell them they can volunteer.”

Lattin said the most recent volunteer joined because the State’s Emergency Medical Academy recommended the Corrales department to a graduate.

Another new recruit had recently moved to the area from California and was driving through Corrales when he saw the “Corrales Volunteer Fire Department” sign at the fire station and snapped at the opportunity to participate.

That person was quick to recognize an opportunity that is increasingly unique. Corrales is one of the few communities in this region where ordinary citizens can join fire-rescue teams without having to hire on as a full-time employee.

Martinez said an emergency medical response should include at least two people. “You’re taking all the medical information, and another has to be working on the patient, so you need at least two at a minimum,” the chief said.

Having only three Corrales volunteers trained in emergency medical techniques presents a serious problem, he added.

“We have always tried to get as many of our members medically trained as possible. Your neighbor might be an EMT volunteer, but he or she might not be home. Hopefully the one further down is home and not working that day.

“We’re known for getting back-to-back calls,” he cautioned. “So the more the better. Let’s say we get a medical call, and two people roll to that. But that doesn’t mean that the other volunteers can turn their pagers off knowing that two people are already on the way. Because we may get another call right away… a fire call or a medical call.

“So the common practice is that on the first call, people come in and get the truck and go to the scene. The other volunteers know that if somebody else is already responding, they go to the fire station to stand by.

“They get credit for the record for responding stand-by. And that’s good, because we’ve had four calls, back-to-back-to-back, which we’ve handled.

“We do get those.”

The real answer is more paid staff, Lattin said. “Anthony can recruit 50 volunteers in town here, and there’s still a chance that a number of them will be at work, another person is going to roll over in bed and say ‘it’s three in the morning.’ We have great volunteers, but still, they don’t have to go [when a call comes in].

It has happened more than once that Albuquerque Ambulance has reached a rescue scene before local responders showed up.

That’s partially explained because neither of the department’s two paid staffers, Martinez and Lattin, live in Corrales, and all but three of the medical volunteers also live outside the village.

Part of the problem is the high cost of housing in Corrales.

“Look at Biff [Tallada, one of the department’s most active volunteers]. He used to live here, but he couldn’t buy a house here.

“He’s still very active, but obviously he can’t respond as quickly as he did when he lived here.”

Lattin said she and Martinez look every week for housing they can afford in Corrales.

“I’ve been looking for a place in Corrales for years, and I can’t even afford a place to rent here,” Martinez said.