Corrales adds wildfire defense pipeline, sprinklers near bosque

A new buried line under Corrales Road is giving Corrales another way to push water toward the bosque, with crews boring at Corrales Road and Priestley on April 20 to tie the Rec Center well and its pump into the village’s fire suppression network.

The line will connect the Rec Center well to the line down Priestley, then to the Interior Drain line and Andrew’s Lane before reaching the Bosque entrance. In the mayor’s message, the Rec Center well and pump were described as creating a “robust redundancy” in the system, a small phrase that carries a big meaning in a village where fire defense depends on moving water fast.

That extra backup matters because Corrales has spent years building a system it once lacked entirely. Former Mayor Jim Fahey said in 2022, “We don’t really have a fire suppression system at all,” adding that the village relied on a “modern-day bucket brigade.” Without public hydrants in much of Corrales, firefighters have had to ferry water in with water-tender trucks when fires start.

Fire Chief Anthony Martinez has been “cobbling funds together since 2003” to build out the system. One account said Corrales went from a single 35,000-gallon tank and no public hydrants to four additional tanks holding 391,000 gallons, with three of those on a pump system with water lines and hydrants. The scale of the need was underscored by the July 2012 Rancho de Corrales fire, which took more than 10 hours to get under control and drained more than 120,000 gallons from a tank.

The new work also extends protection into the bosque itself. The fire department plans to install four, eventually six, industrial-sized sprinkler heads at a shaded fuel break near Dixon. Elevated about four feet above the ground, each sprinkler can throw water 50 to 60 feet and can be connected by fire hose to the hydrant at the end of Dixon at the Clear Ditch. The setup is temporary at first, with a more permanent installation planned later.

The pipeline and sprinklers build on a broader 2026 wildfire-mitigation push. In February, Corrales, the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District and the state Forestry Division began a 100-acre bosque fuels-reduction project using hand crews, herbicide and chainsaws to remove invasive species and cut hazardous fuels. That work temporarily closed public access in parts of the bosque near homes and recreation areas.

New Mayor Fred Hashimoto has said more access to water for fire suppression in the bosque is important, and a recent mayor’s message previewed wood clearing and lines to deliver water to hydrants. For Corrales, the latest work is not abstract planning. It is a buried pipe, a pump, a set of sprinkler heads and one more chance to keep a fire from racing through the bosque and into nearby neighborhoods.