Fire restrictions tighten in Sandoval County amid dry wildfire danger

Residents moving from the Corrales bosque to Bernalillo County’s unincorporated neighborhoods are now crossing into different fire rules, and assuming the same standard everywhere could mean a citation, confiscated fireworks or worse.

The most sweeping order came from the New Mexico State Forester on April 6, when statewide restrictions took effect on non-municipal, non-federal and non-Tribal lands. Those rules ban smoking, fireworks, campfires, prescribed burning, open burning, agricultural burning, debris burning and flaring of gas tied to oil and gas production. The order remains in place until it is rescinded, which makes it a live restriction for anyone living outside city limits or outside federal and Tribal land boundaries.

Corrales went further. The village says fireworks are never allowed in the bosque, where dry vegetation and dense residential edges make fire spread fast. Its fireworks rules allow only safe and sane legal fireworks in certain circumstances, and residents are expected to have water or a fire extinguisher available. Corrales’ own resolution also gives village officers authority to confiscate and destroy fireworks found in violation of the rules, a reminder that misuse can bring immediate penalties, not just a warning.

Bernalillo County added its own layer on May 27, when the Board of County Commissioners voted to ban all open burning in the unincorporated areas of the county outside Albuquerque city limits. That county ban covers a different slice of land than the state order, but the practical message is the same: fires that might have been tolerated earlier in the season are now off-limits because the risk has climbed. The county has used similar restrictions before during severe drought and very high to extreme fire danger, including a 45-day burn ban in 2021.

For Sandoval County readers, the by-jurisdiction rule is straightforward. In Corrales, do not burn in the bosque and do not assume consumer fireworks are free to use everywhere. In Bernalillo County’s unincorporated areas, open burning is banned. On state-covered non-municipal lands, the forester’s order bars smoking, fireworks and all forms of open or debris burning. On Santa Fe National Forest land, Stage 1 restrictions have also been in force since April 2 and run through September 30.

The trigger was an unseasonably hot, dry spring that pushed agencies to act before a spark became a wind-driven wildfire. Sandoval County Fire and Rescue says it works with Corrales, Bernalillo County, Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and other agencies on wildland response, a sign that the region is treating the fire threat as one corridor, not a series of separate problems.