Broken fire hydrants plague communities across New Mexico
CARRIZOZO, N.M. (KRQE) – There’s something terribly amiss in the picturesque Lincoln County town of Carrizozo. The casual visitor probably wouldn’t notice but if you live in this small southern New Mexico community you know all about it. Just ask Carrizozo Mayor Bob Hemphill, “It’s a big deal because we need to protect the citizens.”
To understand what’s happened in Carrizozo look no further than the charred remains at 504 D Avenue. Carrizozo Fire Chief Leeroy Zamora remembers February 21, 2024, and the devastating blaze that destroyed everything. “We had to stretch over 1,200 feet of hose from the hydrants because there was none close enough,” Chief Zamora said.
When it comes to fire, the first line of defense for any community are fire hydrants. It’s not something most people really think about. The expectation is that when there is an emergency and you need a fire hydrant it will work to protect the community. That’s the expectation. The reality in Carrizozo is vastly different.
Two years ago, KRQE-TV News toured Carrizozo’s aging fire protection system. For example, the fire hydrant at 10th and E was installed some 70 years ago and is completely rusted out. The relic hasn’t worked in decades. It’s the same sad story all over Carrizozo, broken, useless, inoperative fire hydrants: From Birch Avenue to Cedar Avenue.
(Photo shows fire hydrant at 10th and E. in Carrizozo, N.M.) (Photo of fire hydrant at Birch Ave. in Carrizozo, N.M.) (Photo of fire hydrant at Cedar Ave. in Carrizozo, N.M.)
“I can’t think of any public property that would be any more important than a functioning fire hydrant,” then-Mayor Ray Dean said in 2022. “We’re fortunate in not having fires very often, but we know it’s only a matter of time. The school, for instance. That would be a huge, huge tragedy. And I can probably take you to a fire hydrant next to the school that’s not functioning at all,” former Mayor Dean said in 2022.
So why doesn’t the town fix its inoperative hydrants? Like a lot of small rural New Mexico communities, Carrizozo struggles to provide basic services for its 1,400 residents. The town’s only bank is gone. So is the newspaper, the movie theater, and the pharmacy. The last grocery store shut down years ago. With a dwindling tax base, there simply is no money in the town coffers to address broken fire hydrants. Just to replace a single hydrant will cost as much as $17,000.
Mayor Bob Hemphill said townspeople are frustrated. “They keep coming back saying ‘We need this one replaced, we need that one replaced, I live half a block from that one.’ They’re very frustrated and their fire insurance rates are higher than they should be,” Mayor Hemphill said.
Carrizozo’s elected leaders made repeated appeals to state legislators for help. At the 2022 legislative session, Carrizozo asked lawmakers for $350,000 in Capital Outlay funds to replace the town’s aging fire hydrants. State legislators rejected Carrizozo’s public safety request. Instead, they appropriated $1,500,000 to upgrade New Mexico golf courses.
In 2023, someone in Santa Fe must have been paying attention. During that year’s Legislative Session, New Mexico lawmakers finally took notice and appropriated $400,000 for Carrizozo fire hydrant replacements. “It’s been a long time coming to address this, but it’s happening,” said Carrizozo Public Works Superintendent Troy Herd.
In May, almost three dozen brand new fire hydrants were delivered to the town and now crews are at work digging up rotted water lines and replacing 70-year-old inoperative fire protection relics. KRQE returned to Carrizozo recently and spoke with Mayor Hemphill at the corner of 11th and E in front of a non-functioning fire hydrant installed in 1954. “This fire hydrant will be brand new in three weeks. The people that drive up and down this street will be able to say, we’re a better-protected town,” Carrizozo Mayor Bob Hemphill said.
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