gunhog11
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Posts posted by gunhog11
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Funny this. As in addition to Rural Metro selling the ALS CON for Northwest Fire District to them, Rural Metro just the other day offered to sell their Green Valley FD CON to that department. Why RM/SWA seems intent on killing operations in Pima County, I have no idea. Granted I-66s recent vote to approve a strike is nothing more than a bluff I personally believe, and one that RM isn't going to bite off on.
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SWA rides that were assigned to the Northwest Fire contract going to Casa Grande &
San Tan Valley ?
I'm not completely sure whether that's going to happen, or whether they'll sell those over to Northwest in order to supplement NW's few rescue's that they have. Three of them will be kept for BLS for NW, as SWA will be retaining that contract, but the remaining 7 ambos would have to find other work. Maybe a different paintjob/striping too. But transferring them from Pima to Maricopa/Pinal operation of SWA would make sense, as there's no additional work for them down here, and they'd just sit at fleet doing nothing.
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Speaking of CONs, down in Pima County, RM sold the ALS portion of their CON for Northwest Fire District to the district. Final approval awaits. But this effectively takes 9 or so SWA ALS ambos out of service, and replaces them with 3 BLS ambos to serve NWFs BLS transport needs. All of this was done up at corporate, with the Pima operation apparently not having been in the loop on the decision.
Equipment-wise, I'm not yet sure where the brand new NW-painted SWA ambos will go....whether they will transfer or whether NWF will acquire all or some of them, or none. Personnel-wise, this displaces about 18 paramedics who are still unclear where they can transfer to in the Pima County operation, as the other main ALS contract, Green Valley, doesn't have expansion room for that many. It's possible they may be absorbed by interfacility ambos.
This, combined with the wholesale ceasing of Indiana operations, makes one wonder what RM is truly up to and what their end-state goals are, if there are indeed any.
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The info was accurate at the time it was posted, as is their financial situation. It just appears they were able to make a change and save some things. Reference the news link I posted along with my post, it's all right there.
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Arivaca FD, northwest of Nogales, laid off all personnel this past Monday after determining that the district could no longer afford to pay them. Some of the FFs have remained as volunteers, but response times will definitely increase due to this. Arivaca had suffered funding shortages through EMS transports that hadn't been paid out as expected.......$6000 return on $93,000 in billings, as well as with wildland assignments. Lately with wildland assignments, it's been taking nearly 9-12 months to get paid by the state, even when the state got paid by the feds quickly. Hopefully, the district will be able to get back to paid status in due time.
Story here:
http://www.kvoa.com/news/all-arivaca-fire-district-employees-laid-off/
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I thought SWA stopped fire dept. branding their rigs in Glendale. Other than that optic yellow 2-ton monster medic assigned to one of the fire stations, the rest of the Glendale rigs have a red and white paint scheme. https://flic.kr/p/7J22Kd
Oh, I didn't know they don't brand the Glendale ones anymore. So they are indeed out of the yellow/white ambo's business finally.
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With the loss of one BC already, the investigation continues into the allegations of inappropriate S/L usage and possibly other violations of department or city policies.
Unfortunate. As an outsider looking in, and not aware of GFDs or the city's specific policies regarding the allegations, its difficult to know more than what's covered in the news. But the possibility for more fallout from this exists.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/gilbert/article_3c2a5c5a-e851-11e3-8587-001a4bcf887a.html
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SWA down in Pima County has been involved in 3 major accidents in the past 4 months down in Pima County. The last one from a few weeks ago became fatal, when the 92 yr old passenger of a civilian vehicle struck by the ambulance on east Grant Rd, passed away today. Unfortunate and tragic.
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Also saw new R272 and R273 at Tempe St. Luke's. The fire department branding seems to be trendy in the Valley nowadays.
The branding is indeed trendy and it looks nice. Although it makes for a requirement for more fleet trucks, as the branded trucks can't be used to cover elsewhere when needed. In a similar vein, for example, I don't think I've ever seen one of SWAs yellow colored Glendale contract ambos anywhere other than there, or at fleet. Never seen any covering elsewhere.
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I gotta give Neal Thomas credit for being tenacious. He suffered through about 75 hours of testimony at the AZ DHS hearing before the administrative law judge. The judge and AZ DHS protected R/M's monopoly and refused to issue a CON to Mr. Thomas. Maricopa County is the 6th largest metro area in the US. Hospitals, nursing facilities and others in metro Phoenix must use R/M for interfacility transports. They have no alternative. Pathetic!
R/M appears to be wanting to press hard with ambulance service, and slowly getting out of the fire business for area that get too large and costly to manage. Such was the case with Scottsdale seemingly. Problem is too, with monopoly comes service that could widely range from great to lousy, and not much can be done about the latter. Company management still doesn't seem to be controlling how much the company spends and ensure its done in a fiscally conservative manner. But when all they have to do is declare Ch 13 and have their debts waived, what is the incentive to?
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The district is about 20 square miles now because of the annexations into the Camino de Mañana area on the far NW side of th district. Still a small district though, correct.
The first two or three years the ladder will be unmanned but the 4 man crew at St. 610 will toggle between the engine and ladder depending on what the call is; similar to to model NWFD uses at St. 38.
There will also be an ALS squad/rescue at each station to run a lot of the lower priority EMS calls.
St. 610 will have an engine, a type 3, tender, and the rescue/squad.
Mind telling me more about you and where you work since you know a lot about what's going on with RM? You know who I am and where I work.
That's all cool stuff, especially being able to start a fire dept from the ground up and tailor it to the direction the core staff would like to see it progress. Not too many opportunities to get in on something like that.
Insofar as fire, I do contract Fire/EMS work down here......wildland / ARFF / car races / events, in a contract company here; it's mostly all I do fire related these days, having started in fire in 1989. Wife works for SWA down here and I have a few friends I see occasionally from there from RM side, but I don't always catch details of stuff going on that's basically just interesting to me. Just nice to see a new dept starting and seeming to work well in a good direction. Hope it continues that way. Appreciate all the good info.
I don't know about the Foothills. I'm sure they want to try and annex to the east but GRFD failed in their recent attempt. Most of the people in the Foothills don't care for more government and are happy with the services RM provides. Just tough to sell them on it. We'll see what happens.
RM provides good service down here. Contract-wise, our crew has a racetrack we cover down at Alvernon/Los Reales, and our patient transport when needed is normally R71, or sometimes P881 or P899. Always easy to work with and helpful crews, allowing us to get back in service quickly and not have our ambo be stuck with extended patient care, so it can rejoin the brush truck on track (pictured in avatar, one of fleet).
With MV starting up, I imagine R70 will no longer be at quarters there.
Has ground broken on the combined Station 71/81 on the south side yet? Last I'd heard it was still in the works.
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Hey everyone,
New to the forum. I work for Rural/Metro Fire in the Mountain Vista Fire District and thought I could help answer some questions you guys may have.
MV currently has their Captains and Engineers selected; all are current RM employees They have been interviewing firefighters this week and will have them selected probably by Monday.
The rigs have the black/red color scheme cause one of the long time board members retired from Chicago Fire with 35 years. I say long time board members because he was a member of one of the smaller three districts that existed prior to the merger and formation of MVFD.
I believe the tender at St. 620 will be released back to the county as soon as MV is able to secure and put a new tender in service. Not sure if there is an agreement to "rent" the tender from RM if they can't get one before July 1st. I would assume there is because RM and MV have a good working relationship still.
Is L610 going to be unmanned once the transition occurs?
Just seems kind of weird to have a fire district of 15 square miles, sandwiched between two other larger districts. Is there expansion ability to the foothills to the east?
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Rescue 22 at 7th st / Broadway early this AM. T-boned in intersection by a car and rollover. Only about 2 months ago or so that RM Paramedic 881 suffered the exact same fate at the intersection of Valencia / Alvernon in metro Tucson, also with no injuries.
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This kills me because the contact SCFD has with the ambulance provider states BLS ambulance. You can't claim the ambulance provider isn't ALS when YOU requested them to be BLS...
Agree. If SWA is meeting the contract, then they can't complain. Contract for ALS, or if you want an ambo quicker, work a contract for SWA basing within the SCFD stations.
And I can see that tax rate cap per $100 assessed value increase trying to make a comeback. There are some departments who live off of keeping their tax rates at the cap, vs being a good steward of their money and trying to have a lower assessment.
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I also live in Johnson Ranch and welcome the move of Johnson Utilities to the Town of Florence. I doubt the proposed STV Fire District will gain any ground. Too many mixed views on the subject, plus the Town of Florence seems to be moving very quickly with their land annexations. Only time will tell for sure.
What do you think of that Johnson Volunteer Fire Department decal on that old rig parked in George Johnson's yard?
Florence is indeed moving fast, which is funny because much of the land Florence has been annexing.....from Anthem South up Hunt Highway, is actually closer to Coolidge. Yet it seems Coolidge hasn't made any moves for expansion at all.
Grew up in the east Valley, and remember when all that was in this whole San Tan desert was......desert. In fact, had to drive through cotton fields and farmland to get to work at Williams AFB back in the day, from Mesa/Chandler.
I'll have to check out that rig....haven't seen it yet.
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Buy they're spending money on corporate re-branding. New logos on apparatus, new uniforms (nation wide), and locally (PMT/SWA) have had 'A Rural/Metro Company' decals placed on every shop. $$$
You're right. Going to some kind of gray uniform, with some kind of catchy phrase on it too. Great way to spend cash! haha.
Seriously though, it's been rumored for a long time that RM has been looking to get out of the fire-side business, and concentrate on EMS primarily. As its tough to make money in fire: subscription service isn't a great moneymaker what with all the problems inherent in even non-payers/subscribers; and municipal service has tons of costs that can overtax (no pun) a department like RM, such as the rapod growth of the City of Scottsdale.
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Sounds like R/M is still having a tough time of it and needs to cut some more expenses. If I'm not mistaken, that Tucson facility was custom built for SWA. I'll bet they're paying a pretty hefty premium for that lease. Probably a similar situation with the custom built facility SWA had in Mesa.
I believe you are correct. Just a much smaller scale than the one up there. I agree.....simply not paying on the leases is probably not the finance plan the bankruptcy court had in mind; but it does appear they need to shed more.
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Apparently SWA/RM Pima County HQ on Commerce Drive at I-10/Prince has just been placed up for lease out since RM apparently hasn't been paying the rent on the facility in a while. The facility houses SWA/RM ops, fleet, vehicle storage, as well as a fire training ground.
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Also, the Maricopa/Pinal SWA rigs are light years better than the standard fleet Pima county rigs. Yes, Pima has nice new rigs for their Northwest and Green Valley operations, per contract; but the normal ops here.....Tucson FD BLS, Tri Cities up in San Manuel, and Safford.....run standard SWA junk.
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The former Brush 35 Dodge, is still in service with a contract fire department and is pictured in my avatar. It and a few other of the fomer Phoenix rigs, still operate as Type 6X wildland, raceway protection, light structural protection, and helispot/helipad ARFF contracts. Great trucks with 1st/2nd year Cummins 5.9 turbo diesel, and little mileage when they were retired.
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Living in San Tan Valley / Johnson Ranch, I just got a notice that Johnson Utilities is planning to move water service to Town of Florence. Notice for public hearing.
Be interesting to see how the vote goes in January about the proposal for a fire district here, as was mentioned in the other thread from this past December.
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It's interesting how each Rural Metro operation runs like a separate corporate entity. To see the differences between RMs Maricopa/Pinal county operation vs the Pima County operation, is almost night and day. For example, apparatus-wise, Maricopa's reserve apparatus are in far nicer shape than many first-line Pima County apparatus. Pima has always been somewhat of a redheaded stepchild, so to speak, in that realm.
One specific example I'll give; the EMS manager vehicles are run-down Crown Vic's which had constant issues, and a few somewhat nicer SUVs. However RM purchased 4 new trucks for Fire Inspectors. The new trucks were nice, though somewhat overkill, and the Inspectors loved to drive them.....right up until they got repossessed one day.
It's just somewhat sad to see how some of the entities of RM are run in certain ways, as RM used to be an innovator in research and development of equipment and the like. I can still remember the firefighting remote-control robots they designed in their Scottsdale shops in the 1980s. Former Engine 11 at what was then station 11 on Scottsdale/McDonald had one of these robots stored in a rear compartment of the engine, and could deploy it into structure fires. I don't remember how many times it was ever used real-world. Today, one of these robots still exists; stored in a back storage facility of RM Station 71 in Tucson on Benson Highway/ Valencia. The young firefighters have no idea what it is, and many of the older ones have no idea how it ended up where it did, as none were ever used in Pima County. I'll have to snap some photos of it next time I'm down there.....
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One might think NWFD would be embolden by Yuma FD's success in obtaining their own CON. After all, NWFD serves a larger population than Yuma FD does.
You would think, yes. I don't know if they just don't want to put the money and effort into obtaining their own, hence why they'd like to acquire one through merger with Golder Ranch or Avra Valley. Northwest, as a department, is constantly in the red finanacially; which is one reason their tax assessments for fire protection is so high, nearly 50% higher than Golder Ranch or Mountain Vista, for instance, using the formula of $X per $100 assessed value of the property. Northwest's previous regime spent money like a drunken sailor on things such as very high tech and expensive design fire stations; things that were more "nice to have" rather than "need to have".
Even now, this is the last season for the Ironwood Hotshots, Northwest FDs Type 1 Interagency Hotshot crew (IHC). Too expensive to run and maintain, as well as get reimbursed for their work. As well as being the only other municipal FD-based IHC other than the Granite Mountain hotshots of the Prescott FD; following their tragedy and the fallout over having a wildland handcrew within a structural fire department and the ingrained problems therein.
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I was going to add that with regards to the apparatus, it seems to be much like the Scottsdale transition from RM to Scottsdale Fire; where you had some apparatus that were city owned (with the City of Scottsdale seal on them), and others which were still RM owned, but were purchased by the city with the transition. In fact, a 1996 Pierce Sabre just got auctioned by the City of Scottsdale just a couple weeks ago, and you could still see where it used to say Rural/Metro on the doors.
in Arizona
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Station 34 at the airport got inherited by the Northern AZ Fire District, but they appear to have closed it down. There used to be the E-One ARFF unit there and the 1982 Dodge that had been there forever. Am not sure if those have been sold off. Doesn’t appear the airport has dedicated units anymore.
The ARFF came about there when Kingman used to have small airline service into there, and it remained when that service ceased. however, with the cost of maintaining that capability when it was no longer required to have, maybe that did it in.