To Consolidate Or Not: Otero County Volunteer Fire Departments Face Change
To Consolidate Or Not: Otero County Volunteer Fire Departments Face Change
The High Rolls VFD votes on consolidation before the next round of Insurance Service Office inspections as the county faces volunteer shortages and potential funding losses
Volunteer firefighters and High Rolls and Mountain Park community members met on Monday, August 26th, for an emergency meeting at the fire department.
At issue: the consolidation of fire and EMS departments within Otero County as the state confronts rising property insurance costs and volunteer and funding shortages within fire districts.
High Rolls Fire voted unanimously not to consolidate with the smaller Burro Flats Volunteer Fire Department, which oversees an area above La Luz and is based in Laborcita Canyon. Eight volunteer firemen and women cast votes at the meeting, and Fire Chief Orlando Rodriguez abstained from voting.
According to High Rolls Assistant Fire Chief Kurt Kochendarfer, the State of New Mexico is encouraging fire departments to join forces to improve scores set by the Insurance Service Office.
A department’s ISO score determines the amount of funding it receives from the state. Some insurance providers also use ISO scores and other risk assessment tools to decide what a homeowner’s premium should be or whether or not to insure a property altogether.
By consolidating fire districts, the county hopes to improve ISO scores.
If smaller departments combine personnel and equipment, their fire district could look better on paper before the next round of inspections. This might improve a department’s annual funding and allow them to claim a larger pool of volunteers.
In a written statement, Emergency Services Director for Otero County Matthew Clark says,
“Otero County relies on protecting the citizens and visitors with volunteer firefighters. Across the nation and the State of New Mexico those volunteering are on the decline…Based on the declining numbers and the ISO ratings, the chiefs have been discussing how to attempt to resolve this issue. The chiefs have met with each other, the NM State Fire Marshal’s Office (NM SFMO), and other chiefs that have gone through a consolidation.”
Factors like firefighter training, access to water resources, types of emergency equipment, and the number of personnel able to respond within a district all influence ISO scores for individual departments.
If a department faces a volunteer shortage, for instance, its ISO score and state funding worsen, and surrounding properties could face higher insurance costs as there are fewer resources to combat a fire or emergency.
ISO scores are tallied every five years. Departments within Otero County will be inspected and receive new scores within the next 180 days. Consolidation would buy time for departments to improve their scores, as inspections would be delayed for one year following a merger.
Fire departments like High Rolls are assigned an ISO score on a scale from one to ten. Like in golf, the lower the number, the better the score, with one being the best and ten the worst. High Rolls Fire sits right in the middle with an ISO score of five.
Kochendarfer says,
“As your score levels increase, what happens is your funding decreases. So if you don't meet certain criteria it affects your annual funding that comes into the department. If you don't meet minimum manning levels for long enough, there's a potential that you could lose fire funding for your department altogether.”
According to Kochendarfer, High Rolls VFD fears losing funding and autonomy if it consolidates with another department.
“If there were a department that was larger than High Rolls and we were directed to consolidate with them. There's a good chance that we could lose a lot of autonomy over the High Rolls fire district here…because it would then fall into the guise of the new consolidated department.”
His concern is that consolidating with another department with more voting members than High Rolls would weaken their voting power within the department.
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This was not the issue at the consolidation vote for Burro Flats VFD. Burro Flats has six volunteers in its department and will need to consolidate to improve its ISO score and funding. In an earlier yet unbinding decision, volunteers voted to join the High Rolls district. However, High Rolls later rebuffed that decision by voting not to consolidate with Burro Flats.
According to Kochedarfer, this decision came down to practicality. It’s more practical for Burro Flats to join the La Luz fire district, which is closer, keeping emergency response times shorter.
“The ultimate goal is to get people to the scene that are qualified the fastest…That's not lines on a map, that's find the closest people and get them with the right apparatus to the scene,” says Kochendarfer.
High Rolls VFD is one of eighteen fire departments within Otero County, and it currently oversees the largest fire district of all the departments. It stretches to mile marker 16 on US Highway 82 near Cloudcroft’s wastewater treatment plant and south on Westside Road near Bug Scuffle.
“Down that far, the county usually pages out multiple departments, and whoever gets there first gets there first,” says Kochendarfer. The department has fourteen volunteers, including firefighters, EMTs, and support staff.
ISO does not take into account mutual aid between departments. This means that if a department responds to an emergency, it is often assisted by neighboring departments.
“As a department I get help from other departments around us when I need a lot of manpower. Under the ISO standards most of that aid does not count when it talks about an overall incident response, even though here in Otero County we use that aid all the time” says Kochendarfer.
The state Fire Protection Fund provided departments within Otero County with a total of $2,548,200 for fiscal year 2024. Nearly $176,000 of that went to the High Rolls Fire Department. This fund does not include grant money or the Cloudcroft Fire Department, which the village runs and oversees.
High Rolls worries about the potential dilution of funds if the department is consolidated.
According to Emergency Services Director Clark,
“If the departments do consolidate, the money that was controlled by that department will go to the new department. The new department will have a new chief that will be fiscally responsible for a larger area. For instance, James Canyon has 2 main stations and 1 substation, Sixteen Springs has 1 main station. The new department [if James Canyon and Sixteen Springs consolidate] would receive funding for 3 main stations and 1 substation based on the current ISO rating. Once the ISO inspection has been completed the new department will receive their money based on the new rating.”
If a new department’s ISO rating improves after consolidation, as is the goal, then that department’s funding could increase. But if its rating drops after consolidation, then it could have less money to spend on a new, larger fire district.
Consolidation could also affect grant funding. Individual departments are limited to applying for one competitive state grant per year. Both High Rolls and Burro Flats received individual state grants this year. If they were to combine departments, only one grant would be awarded.
“Grant funding being compromised as a result of consolidation is huge and it's definitely a discussion that needs to be had,” says Kochendarfer. High Rolls received a $400,000 grant this year for a fire station remodel that is currently in the works.
According to Clark,
“The number of grants available would be reduced to the number of new departments. Could this affect the departments? Possibly, it could. Historically, the fire departments do not all apply for them. Also, depending on the department size and rating, they may not need to rely on the grants as they will have more money to work with.”
The Board of County Commissioners will approve or disapprove any consolidation recommendations made by departments like High Rolls. Most insurance providers do not base their rates on ISO scores alone.
“I can tell you right now, even with Cloudcroft being a PCC 3 [ISO 3]. We're not writing anything,” says Ashley Dalton, a local agent with Farmers Insurance who goes by the moniker “Fire Safety Queen.”
PCC stands for protection class code, which is the score issued by ISO.
Dalton continues,
“Insurance companies are pulling out left and right. What happened nationwide is the insurance companies got together and said we have to figure out a better way to rate wildfire zones.”
According to Dalton, ISO scores make up one-third of an area’s overall risk assessment. Insurance companies also look at FireLine, a risk assessment product operated by Verisk, an insurance rating bureau (Verisk also established ISO in 1971).
FireLine considers an area’s fuel (vegetation), slope, and road access to determine a property’s wildfire risk. Other factors include building materials (i.e. stucco vs. log or metal roof vs. shingles), and wildfire maps.
While ISO scores play a part in determining insurance costs, fire department funding and personnel shortages seem to be the greater concern for the state and county.
“I think what's ultimately happened is the volunteer departments have seen a decline in membership that's been persistent,” says Kochendarfer. “This has been something chronic. I think that trend over about the last five years has driven this.”
Through consolidation, the state and county hope to boost volunteer numbers on paper. As of now, Matthew Clark says,
“Based on the discussions with the fire chiefs, I believe that there will be multiple departments coming together to form new departments. As it stands, unofficially, it looks like La Luz, Burro Flats, Dungan, and Bent will form a department. Oro Vista, Alamo West, Boles Acres, and Farsouth will form a department. James Canyon and 16 Springs will form a department. Mayhill and Sacramento-Weed will form a department, Finally, Sunspot and Timberon will form a department.”
While High Rolls elects not to consolidate, combining departments may benefit those with worse ISO ratings and personnel shortages.
Note: Cloudcroft Reader called and emailed Commissioner Vickie Marquardt, who oversees District 3, which includes High Rolls and Cloudcroft, with no response.
When asked about fire district consolidation efforts within the county, Commissioner Amy Barela (who oversees District 2) said, “I am still learning about it and I’m not prepared to answer.”
The County Commissioners Meeting will be held on September 11th at 9:00 a.m. in the Commission Chambers located at 1101 New York Avenue in Alamogordo, NM.
Author Drew Gaines is a painter who strives to be a chronicler of everyday life and everyday people.
His art is an extension of his studies in photojournalism, for which he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Mayborn School of Journalism at the University of North Texas. His work represents the small slice of America he occupies, and he hopes it speaks truth to its diverse, ever-changing, conflicted, and beautiful nature.
Drew lives in a small cabin near Cloudcroft, New Mexico, with his wife, their two dogs, and their cat.
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The meeting will be held at the Lodge Pavillion from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 25th.
Sponsored by Otero County Electric Cooperative
The forum will focus on what government agencies are doing to mitigate risks and what you can do to prepare for a fire. We'll also examine the impact on insurance and how you can best protect your investment.
Cloudcroft Reader will moderate a panel including:
Caleb Finch, District Fire Management Officer for the Sacramento Ranger District
Mario Romero, General Manager/CEO, Otero County Electric Cooperative
Ashley Dalton, Insurance, Ashley Dalton Agency.
Chief Erich Wuersching, Cloudcroft Volunteer Fire Department;
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