Bosque Farms Council Pulls Ambulance From Service, Citing Staffing Shortage

When a Bosque Farms resident dials 911 today for a cardiac arrest or stroke, the nearest ambulance will not be coming from the village's own fire station. It will be dispatched from the Valencia County Fire Department, Rio Communities, or a Belen unit, with response times that depend on those agencies' call volumes and the miles between them and the emergency.

The Bosque Farms Village Council formalized that reality at a March 5 special meeting, voting to pull Rescue 5, the village's ambulance, from service after the unit was again left without a staffed crew. The decision followed what became an unexpectedly contentious pivot into an emergency session at the close of the scheduled meeting.

Councilor Erica De Smet moved to adjourn and immediately enter an emergency discussion on the staffing problem. Mayor Chris Gillespie raised an objection, questioning whether the emergency session had been properly noticed for public attendance. De Smet pushed back, stating "it doesn't have to be," citing the Open Meetings Act as her authority to proceed without advance notice. The council voted, and Rescue 5 was taken out of service pending restoration of a reliable crew.

The staffing crisis is not new to Bosque Farms. The village has repeatedly lost ambulance coverage when personnel leave, certifications lapse, or volunteer rosters run thin, a pattern that reflects a statewide struggle among small New Mexico municipalities to recruit and retain EMTs and paramedics. The March 5 vote represents the point at which that recurring problem crossed from operational headache to formal emergency action.

For the time being, residents experiencing life-threatening emergencies should call 911 as they normally would. Dispatch will route the nearest available mutual-aid unit, most likely from the Valencia County Fire Department, Rio Communities, or Belen. Response times will vary, and in cases involving cardiac arrest, stroke, or severe trauma, the additional miles in transit carry measurable consequence.

What comes next will be decided at future council meetings. Bosque Farms officials are expected to address EMS recruitment, compensation, and whether a regional partnership with a neighboring agency could provide more stable long-term coverage than the village can sustain on its own.