Peralta given $1 million to start building new fire station

PERALTA — A local fire department is a million steps closer to having a much-needed, brand new station, but there are still about seven million steps to go.

U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) stopped by the Peralta Fire Station last week to announce $1 million has been awarded to the town to build a brand new fire station. That is far less than the nearly $8 million the congresswoman requested for the project in the spring of 2023.

“She did ask for the whole amount and it was cut,” said Kori Taylor, Peralta town clerk. “We believe this $1 million will pay for the intersection work that is needed.”

The new station is slated to be built on the west side of N.M. 47, where Molina Road intersects the highway. Taylor said due to the traffic light at that intersection, there is a large amount of electrical infrastructure that will need to be relocated to build the new fire station.

“That’s a big start. We are still looking at about $8 million total,” she said. “Stansbury has been very generous and wants to help us find some grants.”

So far, the town has been awarded $300,000 for planning and designing of the project, which is underway by Albuquerque engineering and architecture firm Molzen Corbin, which has so far completed an initial design of the new fire station.

During the 2024 New Mexico legislative session, the town was awarded $400,000 for renovations to the current station on James Road.

“The capital outlay we just received will help improve the current station,” Taylor said. “It will take quite a few years to build the new one and this will give them a little more space. We will be asking for additional capital outlay. We just have to keep working at it and we’ll eventually get it.”

During the announcement last Tuesday, Peralta Fire Chief Jeremy Fiedler said while it’s exciting to see the town’s EMS program start to grow with three part time EMS/firefighters, two of whom are paramedics, conditions at the station are less than ideal.

“When they sit for shifts, they are sleeping in chairs. Now, they are very comfortable chairs, but they’re not beds. We do the best we can with what we have,” Fiedler said. “This new station will help our community and other communities like we always have.”

The number of volunteer firefighters willing to suit up for the town has also increased, but that has caused the back wall of the 50-plus year old station to be used as storage for bunker gear. When firefighters are called out, they have to scramble to change into their gear, inches from the department’s fire engines and brush trucks.

“We are three deep with our trucks and have about an inch and a half of clearance when they’re all in here,” Fiedler said of the tight quarters at the station. “The exhaust from the trucks contaminates the gear. There’s not a lot of room.”

The new station will be about 11,000 square feet, and include five equipment bays, a decontamination room with restrooms/showers, sleeping areas, a watch room, locker room, training room, a kitchen/laundry, two offices and support spaces including storage, mechanical and electrical rooms. One major feature planned for the new station is a helipad, something no other station in Valencia County has.

The new station will be located on the west side of N.M. 47, across from Peralta Elementary, which is currently undergoing extensive renovations.

“It’s going to be a beautiful campus,” Fiedler said of the new school. “We want to have something that will compliment it and we want people to be proud of their community.”

After going through the “sausage making” process that is the federal appropriations committee, Stansbury’s original request came out the other side much smaller. When earmarks — typically known as pork — came back to the federal funding process in 2021, the Democrats held majority in Congress, and they implemented rules and limits on funding requests, she said.

“We could only submit 15 projects and they had to be under already existing programs,” Sansbury said. “This funding is through a program the USDA has for rural fire stations.

“Now that the Republicans are in control, things are more strict and there are caps on funding. I made the request and this is what came out. The $1 million is definitely coming. This can possibly unlock some state funding and grants. I will continue to advocate for additional funding for this project.”

This new Peralta fire station project is part of the $43.5 million the congresswoman secured for community projects in fiscal years 22, 23 and 24.

Last month, Stansbury announced she had submitted 15 congressionally-funded community projects, totaling more than $104 million, for consideration in the upcoming 2025 budget process.

If funded, two local jurisdictions could receive funding — $10 million has been requested for a new clarifier in the village of Bosque Farms and $731,148 for new patrol vehicles and a mobile crime scene unit for the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office.

Stansbury’s funding requests also includes $72.3 million for Middle Rio Grande pueblo irrigation and acequia improvements to provide support for the Middle Rio Grande Coalition of Pueblos, including Isleta, Sandia, Santa Ana, San Felipe, Santo Domingo and Cochiti, to improve acequia and irrigation infrastructure.

The 15 projects have been submitted to the House Appropriations Committee for consideration, pending approval through the Congressional budget and appropriations process.

According to a press release announcing the requested funding, Stansbury indicated due to restrictions imposed by Republican leadership in the House, she referred additional projects to the offices of Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján.

Once projects are approved by appropriations committees, they will be subject to passage in both chambers of Congress before being signed into law. This process will likely take months, with the earliest final consideration of bills taking place in the fall.