A New Home for Laguna Fire Station 1

LAGUNA, NM – “The very first purpose-built fire station in the Pueblo,” enthused Chief Aragon. The new facility will house both the administration and Fire Station 1 for Laguna Pueblo. The current and former facilities have been remodeled homes and mobile homes.

The new station will serve mainly the Laguna community but will also be available to assist other areas in Cibola and Valencia Counties, responding to the communities of Paraje, Encinal, Seama, and Casa Blanca. The station is also available as a backup to Laguna, Mesita, and Paguate with stations in Laguna, Seboyeta, and Highland Meadows.

The most frequent emergency the firefighters get calls for is medical emergencies, such as trouble breathing, chest pain, and also traffic accidents.

There are a total of 45 firefighters assigned to Station 1 in Laguna. Five people are assigned to fire administration while there are 11-12 on daily staffing assigned to the 4 stations. Their schedule of 48 hours on, or 2 days, and 96 hours off, or 4 days, might sound like a dream job, but the firefighters must pass intensive training. They have training as Emergency Medical Skills (EMS), fire training, and other.

The firefighters are certified medical technicians (EMT) and are also sent for fire training. The physical requirements are – firefighters must pass DOT & OSHA physical (Department of Transportation, Occupational Safety and Health Administration). The previous requirement of a pre-hire physical was stopped after covid.

In addition to a rigorous training requirement, the firefighters often miss important family time, holidays and birthdays are not the priority when they are on duty.

As far as any advancements the chief might like to see at the new station, he responded, “We pretty much do everything that we will be doing, only in a new environment.”

There is not a definite date for completion, approximately late summer or early fall. There will be a Grand Opening for the public.