APD: Grand Jury Weighs Arson Charges in Bosque Fire

The city of Albuquerque is now requesting the public's help after a string of Bosque fires over the past week in New Mexico. According to the city, it is in an effort to assist in keeping the city of Albuquerque safe.

On Tuesday, June 24, 2025, Mayor Tim Keller was joined alongside Albuquerque Fire Rescue, Albuquerque Police Department and city officials to provide the latest on the Bosque fires, fire restrictions and prevention efforts at Mirador del Rio.

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"We have seen now at least four — depending on how you count, five, six — different forest fires that have come up in the Bosque, and our AFR teams as well as partners, whether it's from Los Ranchos or Corrales or the county, have been able to deal with those," Keller said during Tuesday's press conference.

MORE: Suspect arrested after Bosque fire ignites in Albuquerque

"This is very dangerous, of course, for all sorts of reasons. Any fire is dangerous. But when you have the kind of situations that we have with the fire material and so forth all around this special place in our community — it's extremely flammable, and these are things that can be very difficult to control for us, if they get out of hand," Keller said.

"That's why we try and control them right away. It's also why we try and prevent them. Now we know that this is basically arson. To be clear, we absolutely investigate arson, and we prosecute arson," Keller added.

"We know that the Bosque is really important for the public, and all the eyes that we can have to help us watch out for this space is very important. We started Level 1 patrols on May 17. We bump up Level 2 towards the end of June," AFR Chief Emily Jaramillo said.

"We started it early because of the fires that we had last week. So, the patrols right now are focusing on the east side of the river from Central to Montana, where we've seen a lot of the activity," Jaramillo added.

Sean Taylor, 45, suspected arsonist

Alameda, Rio Grande Bosque fire

"There is a grand jury on Friday that will be held to determine whether or not there will be a true bill issued for indictment on the charges of the arson. We currently do have a backpack in our custody at our APD crime lab that we are waiting on approval from a judge to execute a search warrant on," Lt. Chris Schroeder of APD's Open Space Division said during Tuesday's press conference.

According to APD, a lieutenant from the Northwest Area Command observed a fire near Alameda and the Rio Grande on Saturday, June 21. The lieutenant spotted a person believed to be responsible for starting the fire. With assistance from the Real Time Crime Center and the use of drones, officers launched a coordinated search for the suspect.

The suspect was identified as Sean Taylor, 45.

"One of the questions on everyone's mind is, 'Is this individual responsible for all the other fires?' As of right now, we don't have anything to connect him directly to those. So, our intent hopefully is to uncover more evidentiary information out of that," Schroeder said.

Smoke and heat detection technology

In efforts to help monitor and protect the Bosque, the city of Albuquerque is piloting new smoke and heat sensors to detect fires in the Bosque.

"We hope we'll be installing heat and smoke detection sensors here in the Bosque. This pilot project actually detected the fire that occurred last week down here at Tingley. It detected that fire from over half a mile away through a heat signature that the fire created," Director of Parks and Recreation Dave Simon said.

String of Bosque fires

• Tuesday, June 17, Brush Fire, southside of the Montaño bridge (East side of river)
• Wednesday, June 18, Brush Fire, north side on Montaño bridge (East side of river)
• Thursday, June 19, Reports of fire west of the river near Atrisco and Central and near Tingley Park, on east side of bridge

Public Assistance

• Call 911 immediately to report any fire or smoke in the Bosque or open space
• Call 242-COPS to report suspicious behavior
• Call 311 to report encampments or non-emergency issues in open spaces

The Desert Willow Complex fire , also known as the Cotton 1 and Cotton 2 fires, erupted in Los Lunas, New Mexico, on Saturday, June 21. As of Monday, June 23, according to New Mexico Fire officials , nine structures were reported lost to the fire.

According to Valencia County Fire Chief Matt Propp, the fire has human causes and is currently under investigation.

Related: Woman saves elderly neighbor, dogs from Desert Willo Complex fire in New Mexico

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