Dr. Steve Jenison’s idea of retirement is a real departure from that of most other people.

Often, he is awakened in the middle of the night to respond to an hourslong structure fire in Embudo, Rinconada or Velarde, rolling out of bed to look crisis in the face.

Now 72, Jenison is among a group of Northern New Mexico locals who toil for no pay as a member of the Dixon Volunteer Fire Department. It is an often underappreciated model of emergency response that has existed for more than a century in rural America and carries a certain rugged charm.

When Jenison — the department’s chief — is called out, most of the time he is dealing with a neighbor or someone else he knows.

“We know a lot of people we go out on calls for, either because we’ve been out on a call for them before or because w

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