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SFD Administration Summit Fire Stations Summit Fire Apparatus Union 1505 Summit Fire District Auxiliary
Human Resources/Volunteer Chief's Page Summit History
Human Resources/Volunteer Chief's Page Summit History
Summit Fire District
| Fire Departments don't succeed, people do. |
Administrative Office - Station 32
8905 N. Koch Field Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86004, 928-526-9537 Office, 928-526-2750 Fax, sfd@summitfiredepartment.org
8905 N. Koch Field Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86004, 928-526-9537 Office, 928-526-2750 Fax, sfd@summitfiredepartment.org
10th Anniversary Thoughts....
As I sit here today contemplating Summit Fire’s 10th Anniversary, I am amazed that we already have a
decade under our belt. When the Timberline-Fernwood and Doney Park Fire Departments chose to start
a merger process over 11 years ago, we thought it would be beneficial on many different levels, especially
for what we would be able to provide to our citizens. We hope that today you feel that the process has
been beneficial to you. One of the focuses that the merger allowed us to do was to provide Advanced
Life Support (ALS) to all of our citizens on a 24 hour basis. It is our feeling that the people of our rural
area should have the same emergency service delivery provided to them that people in the cities receive.
We understand very well that to provide this kind of quality service delivery costs money. It is not
inexpensive to provide for fire and ems services. We receive most of our funding from you, our
taxpayers. During the current economic downturn, we have taken steps to reduce our costs. We are
thinking outside the box in how we are approaching the future and have taken actions that demonstrate
that. While we have some quality equipment, most of our first out engines are now at least 11 years old.
In order to keep our apparatus for as long as possible we have purchased two City of Mesa engines for a
total of $20,500. One of the old engines we purchased was new in 1989 and the other in 1992. If you
compare that to the purchase in 2009 of a brand new engine for $428,000, you can understand the cost
savings. We are using these engines to get as much life out of all of our apparatus as possible. We have
purchased a 75’ ladder truck that we believe will be very valuable to us in the near future. Our cost for
that ladder truck, which has passed all of its certification tests (although it was made in 1985) cost us less
than what a 1985 pick-up would cost, $1,050. Since we are buying used apparatus and keeping all of our
apparatus for longer periods, we need a safe place to do maintenance. We will break ground on a
maintenance facility at our Station 33 on North Highway 89 within the next two weeks. We are excited
about this facility which will cost near $450,000, or less than what we could purchase a new fire engine for
today.
While buildings, apparatus, training and equipment are essential to do our job the most important aspect
of what we do are our people. I would personally like to thank all of the people that make up the Summit
Fire Department for what we have accomplished. The fire board that has a thankless job most of the time
that deals with the fiduciary responsibilities, the administration that oversees all of the ends and outs of
the daily needs, our firefighters that fulfill the primary mission of our organization and provide it at the
highest of standards, the volunteer firefighters over the years who have given of their time and energy,
the Auxiliary who has helped countless people deal with different kinds of loss and last but not least, all of
you who support us in being the best that we can be. I’ll go back to our motto that “Fire departments don’t
succeed, people do.” It is with this in mind that we move into our second decade of existence in providing
a quality service delivery to an area that now includes the citizens along the 180 corridor.
We hope that we are meeting your needs. We appreciate all of your comments and would appreciate
knowing how you think we are meeting the needs of the community. We hope to see you at the Peaks
View Park to help us celebrate this Sunday, the 14th of August. Thank you for all of your support over
the years and we’ll look forward to providing you the best possible service in the coming years.
Don Howard, Fire Chief
As I sit here today contemplating Summit Fire’s 10th Anniversary, I am amazed that we already have a
decade under our belt. When the Timberline-Fernwood and Doney Park Fire Departments chose to start
a merger process over 11 years ago, we thought it would be beneficial on many different levels, especially
for what we would be able to provide to our citizens. We hope that today you feel that the process has
been beneficial to you. One of the focuses that the merger allowed us to do was to provide Advanced
Life Support (ALS) to all of our citizens on a 24 hour basis. It is our feeling that the people of our rural
area should have the same emergency service delivery provided to them that people in the cities receive.
We understand very well that to provide this kind of quality service delivery costs money. It is not
inexpensive to provide for fire and ems services. We receive most of our funding from you, our
taxpayers. During the current economic downturn, we have taken steps to reduce our costs. We are
thinking outside the box in how we are approaching the future and have taken actions that demonstrate
that. While we have some quality equipment, most of our first out engines are now at least 11 years old.
In order to keep our apparatus for as long as possible we have purchased two City of Mesa engines for a
total of $20,500. One of the old engines we purchased was new in 1989 and the other in 1992. If you
compare that to the purchase in 2009 of a brand new engine for $428,000, you can understand the cost
savings. We are using these engines to get as much life out of all of our apparatus as possible. We have
purchased a 75’ ladder truck that we believe will be very valuable to us in the near future. Our cost for
that ladder truck, which has passed all of its certification tests (although it was made in 1985) cost us less
than what a 1985 pick-up would cost, $1,050. Since we are buying used apparatus and keeping all of our
apparatus for longer periods, we need a safe place to do maintenance. We will break ground on a
maintenance facility at our Station 33 on North Highway 89 within the next two weeks. We are excited
about this facility which will cost near $450,000, or less than what we could purchase a new fire engine for
today.
While buildings, apparatus, training and equipment are essential to do our job the most important aspect
of what we do are our people. I would personally like to thank all of the people that make up the Summit
Fire Department for what we have accomplished. The fire board that has a thankless job most of the time
that deals with the fiduciary responsibilities, the administration that oversees all of the ends and outs of
the daily needs, our firefighters that fulfill the primary mission of our organization and provide it at the
highest of standards, the volunteer firefighters over the years who have given of their time and energy,
the Auxiliary who has helped countless people deal with different kinds of loss and last but not least, all of
you who support us in being the best that we can be. I’ll go back to our motto that “Fire departments don’t
succeed, people do.” It is with this in mind that we move into our second decade of existence in providing
a quality service delivery to an area that now includes the citizens along the 180 corridor.
We hope that we are meeting your needs. We appreciate all of your comments and would appreciate
knowing how you think we are meeting the needs of the community. We hope to see you at the Peaks
View Park to help us celebrate this Sunday, the 14th of August. Thank you for all of your support over
the years and we’ll look forward to providing you the best possible service in the coming years.
Don Howard, Fire Chief
Chiefs Page