Volunteer firefighters needed in Bluewater

By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau

BLUEWATER — The volunteer fire department in Bluewater is recruiting men and women to become members.

There are currently only six members of Bluewater Fire and Rescue, said Gary Jewell, assistant fire chief. To help the department recruit, McKinley County, has been publishing quarter page ads in the Independent.

These ads show photos of members of the fire department and have information cleverly written in an attempt to bring notice to the department’s need for new members.

So far, only one individual has responded and joined the department, Jewell said.

Ray Burdine, who lives in Bluewater and delivers propane for a Milan company, said he decided to join the department to be able to give back to the community.

“I have talked with some of my neighbors out here, but they all seem to not have the time to be able to help their friends and neighbors,” he said.

“I joined because I live there and I want to be able to help people,” he said. Burdine said he has nothing to do in the evenings or on weekends, and this might be a way to help people and it is something worthwhile.

“I would like to become a firefighter and a first responder,” he said.

First responders in fire and rescue departments are those individuals who generally arrive at an accident scene first, before the remainder of the department.

He said he is now reading and studying a book given to him by the department, “Firefighting Essentials, Part 4.”
Burdine, who joined a week ago, has not yet attended a meeting where he will begin his training. Meetings are generally held twice a month at the fire station in Bluewater.

Jewell said the department’s fire chief is out of state and the usual two meetings per month will not be rescheduled until April, when Chief Bill Candler returns.

Deborah “Sunshine” Candler, Bill Candler’s wife and head of the emergency medical service/rescue portion of the department, said she and the members of the department want to find some younger individuals to become members so they can eventually carry on the tradition.

Her son and daughters have all been through a junior firefighter academy the department hosts, but interest is slight, she said.

Jewell said there are not a lot of people in the Bluewater area to recruit from, and that is having an impact. An individual must live within a short enough distance to the department to be able to respond for emergencies, and that means Bluewater itself. There are only a few dozen homes and many of those have only seasonal occupants during the summer.

There are between about 12 to 75 calls per month for the department, most on Interstate 40, between mile markers 57 and 64.

“It picks up in the spring, because of the weather,” he said.

Most of the calls are emergency medical or accident assistance, the department has mutual aid agreements with Prewitt, Thoreau and Grants, he said.

“We don’t have that many fire calls,” he said.

While the department is a volunteer one, members do receive $5 per call to help defray expenses, he said.

The department has a specially designed medical transport van which can go into the mountainous and canyon terrain to bring out patients if needed. It also has a special flotation ice rescue unit that allows emergency responders to “walk on water,” to rescue those trapped on the ice at Bluewater Lake during winter.

Information: Deborah Candler (505) 290-3301; department (505) 876-4095; Jewell (505) 290-0460; Capt. Daniel Candler (505) 862-4854.

To contact reporter Jim Tiffin call (505) 287-2197.