Mountain Vista nearing end of RM manning

[gunhog11 1]

As of 1 July, Mountain Vista Fire District (Tucson) will end their contract with Rural Metro for manning of the district's apparatus, formerly covered by RM.  Unlike the Scottsdale FD transition from a decade ago, there's no nearly-automatic hiring of the current RM staff for MV. This month, the formal hiring process began for all positions from FF to Engineer to Captain. As of 1 July, MV will be on their own.

 

For the Tucson area, this leaves RM with the foothills on the northeast side of town consisting of stations 80, 74, 73 and 72; the far south side of town with stations 71 and 81, and the town of Sahuarita with station 79.

 

SWA still has the CON for ambulance coverage for Mountain Vista, as well as other former RM areas such as Green Valley.

 

The foothills area is being looked at for possible annexation by either Mt Vista, or Golder Ranch fire districts; and that's a future battle that may arise soon.

[buckeyefyrfoto 16]

So what will happen to the RM water tender at MV Stn 620? There might even be a brush truck there too.

[gunhog11 1]

So what will happen to the RM water tender at MV Stn 620? There might even be a brush truck there too.

 

I don't know if the district is going to purchase them from RM, or what? There's a Type 3 brush truck they have that I believe the district purchased, but I'm not completely certain of that. I do know that their one Ladder truck will not be permanently staffed for a while, for reasons unknown. 

 

On the subject of vehicles, aren't Mt Vista, Buckeye Valley and Gila River, the only Phoenix/Tucson metro fire depts with the red/black Chicago-style livery? Or are there more around?

[gunhog11 1]

With regards to other goings-on down in the Tucson area, there has been talk of a potential merger of Golder Ranch and Northwest Fire. This was talked about a couple years ago, but the plan fell through.

Edited March 24, 2014 by gunhog11

[gunhog11 1]

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.

[AndrewH 0]

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.

[gunhog11 1]

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?

[AndrewH 0]

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.

[AndrewH 0]

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.

[gunhog11 1]

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.

Edited April 15, 2014 by gunhog11

[AndrewH 0]

Last I heard, R70 will be moved to St. 73

MVFD finished the hiring process. All but two of the 33 guys/gal hired were current employees of Rural/Metro.

St. 82 is going up quickly. Not sure when its expected completion date is though. I believe RM is waiting on St. 82 to be completed before starting the "super station" on the south side. There is also talk of finally building another station along River Rd in the foothills.