Pojoaque Volunteer Fire District

09/11/2025

The ban on open burning has been lifted. Be sure to perform burning safely and within the limits of your burn permit. More info about burn permits at https://www.santafecountynm.gov/fire/burn-permit

06/27/2025

Permits for open burning in Santa Fe County are suspended until further notice. Please refrain from any open burning until it is allowed again.

Santa Fe County Burn Permit Suspension Notice

Effective Friday, June 27, 2025, all Santa Fe County burn permits are suspended until further notice from the Fire Marshal.

No new burn permits will be issued.

All open burning is strictly prohibited in the unincorporated areas of Santa Fe County until further order of the Fire Marshal.

This action is being taken in the interest of public safety due to heightened fire risk conditions.

12/10/2024

Volunteers Needed

Started in 1958, and recognized a year later, by a dedicated group of volunteers, the Pojoaque Fire Department was the first fire department outside the city in Santa Fe County. Like many departments, Pojoaque is not immune from the volunteer shortage, so if you are interested in learning more about volunteer opportunities, please visit https://www.santafecountynm.gov/fire/volunteer-fire-districts

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/santa-fe-county-cites-urgent-need-for-volunteer-firefighters-as-wildfire-risk-rises/article_0e91935a-ab58-11ef-9e06-d7cc670ab9fb.html

Data shows the county now has around 112 volunteer firefighters; at its highest point in the last decade, it had about 400.

11/06/2024

The memorial service for our departed friend and colleague Charles Becvarik will be held on Saturday, November 16, 2024 from 1 pm to 3 pm at the Hondo Volunteer Fire Department Station 2. The station is located at 645 Old Las Vegas Highway east of Santa Fe.

06/21/2024

The current and former members of the Pojoaque Volunteer Fire District offer our condolences to the family and friends of Charles Becvarik. Charles wore both volunteer and paid emergency responder helmets and periodically worked shifts as a paid firefighter and paramedic on Medic 50 at Pojoaque. He helped our EMTs with their licensing and was ever-willing to answer questions regarding EMS Bureau issues. His quirky but calm demeanor always lowered the tension on critical scenes, and he was an all-around good guy. He will be missed by many. The words below are from NM EMS Regions I and III.

It with great sadness, the Board of Directors and staff of EMS Region III share the news of the passing of Charles "Chas" Becvarik. He died Wednesday, June 19, 2024. He was 56 years of age. Charles had been at the EMS Bureau since 2006, first joining as the Region 1 Education Coordinator. He took over as the EMS Data Manager in 2014. Charles had been in EMS since the late 1980’s, had a great, varied history of volunteer and career EMS. He was well known in the New Mexico EMS community and made great contributions to both his administrative and paramedic professions. We wish to express our sympathy to his family, friends and EMS colleagues and we will certainly miss him! Details are pending for arrangements or a memorial from his family and we will convey those to you as soon as we can. Please keep a good thought for his son Callum and brother Ethan (both of whom are EMS caregivers) and all of his family and friends here and all over the country.

06/15/2024

Resolution to Ban Fireworks in Santa Fe County

The ongoing drought that we are in has dried out vegetation across Santa Fe County including here in the Pojoaque Valley. One spark can start a fire.

The Board of County Commissioners has recognized this fact and approved Ordinance 2024-078 which states, in part : "The sale and use of missile-type rockets, helicopters, aerial spinners, stick-type rockets and ground audible devices are banned within all unincorporated portions of the County."

https://www.santafecountynm.gov/news/detail/resolution-to-ban-fireworks-passes

Regardless of where fireworks are being sold, please consider going to a public display this year to get your fireworks fix.

09/13/2023

Open burning, by permit and within the permit conditions, is now allowed again in Santa Fe County. See the notice below for more information.

On July 14, 2023, the issuance or use of open burning permits was suspended until further notice.

Effective Tuesday, September 12, 2023, the Fire Marshal's order has been rescinded.

✔Holders of current Santa Fe County open burning permits may resume burning in accordance with those permits.

✔New open burning permits may be applied for online.

Thank you for doing your part to stop the spread of wildfires.

09/11/2023

09/10/2023

Evening update for Saturday, Sept. 9 for the El Valle Fire.

El Valle Fire Evening Update

With favorable weather and light fire behavior, fire crews and air resources continued suppression actions on the El Valle Fire today by nearly lining the entire 521-acre burn area, which was mapped earlier this morning by an infrared flight. Containment, however, will remain at 0% as crews have not begun to secure and mop up the line.

Evacuation statuses will remain in place with plans to revisit them Sunday afternoon. Weather forecasts for Sunday show somewhat improved but similar weather as today, including a chance for gusty and erratic outflow winds from potential thunderstorm activity.

“We recognize that everyone is eager to fully return home, but we are not out of this yet,” said Incident Commander Fabian Montaño. “We hope Sunday’s weather is as helpful as it was today, but there remains a risk of fire behavior becoming extreme again.”

Forecasts call for increasing chances of precipitation and relative humidity beginning tomorrow and throughout the rest of the week.

The Highway 76 closure has been reduced to between north of County Road 69 in Ojo Sarco and Forest Road 76A south of Chamisal. The Santa Barbara Campground remains closed.

12 engines, one hotshot crew, one type 2 handcrew, two dozers, two type 1 helicopters and an air tanker worked the fire today.

The fire was first reported at 12:49 p.m. on Sep. 8. Its cause remains under investigation.

The next fire update is planned for Sunday evening, unless there are significant changes to fire size, fire behavior and/or evacuation statuses.

The public can check for fire updates on InciWeb, Carson National Forest social media (Facebook, X) and New Mexico Fire Information.

09/09/2023

Morning update for Saturday, Sept. 9 for the El Valle Fire.

The following evacuation statuses, based on the Ready, Set, Go! System, are in place, according to the Taos County Sheriff’s Department:

Go: El Valle and Las Trampas

Set: Chamisal, Llano San Juan, Ojitos, Ojo Sarco, Upper Ojitos

Ready: Rodarte, Santa Barbara, Hodges, Truchas

The Carson National Forest is providing updates via Facebook and other platforms.

https://www.facebook.com/CarsonNF

Fire information is now also being updated on Inciweb and NM Fire Info.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident-publication/nmcaf-el-valle-fire/morning-update

https://nmfireinfo.com/2023/09/09/el-valle-fire-morning-update-sep-9/

Endless recreation opportunities on 1.5 million acres of beautiful mountain scenery.

09/08/2023

Update via NM Fire Info. As of 4:11 pm on Friday, Sept. 8, the communities of El Valle and Trampas are in Go status (evacuate) and Ojo Sarco, Chamisal and Llano San Juan are in Set status (prepare to evacuate).

Carson National Forest fire crews and local fire departments are taking suppression actions on the 100-acre El Valle Fire on Carson National Forest. It is located in the vicinity of El Valle and La…