By Fernanda Echavarri and Tim Steller, Arizona Daily Star
Original publication date: Jan. 30

Tucson, Ariz. — The nearest fire engine with medical responders never was called to the scene of the Jan. 8 mass shootings at Ina and Oracle roads.

The reason: It was a Rural/Metro firetruck, but the shootings occurred just across the street from its jurisdiction in Northwest Fire District territory.

No one is saying jurisdictional issues affected the medical outcomes of the shooting victims. The issue was with firetrucks and their on-board medical personnel only; Ambulances made it to the scene without problems because Southwest Ambulance, the company that provided the initial ambulances, can also dispatch Rural/Metro ambulances. Northwest Fire does not have ambulances.

But it illustrates a larger concern about how first responders communicate during an emergency – especially in areas, like the northwest side, that are crisscrossed with jurisdictions.

The publicly run fire districts, such as Northwest and Golder Ranch, don’t communicate well with privately run Rural/Metro, which serves tens of thousands of households in the area and has its own, separate dispatch center.

Northwest Fire and Golder Ranch fire, for example, have an “automatic aid” agreement that immediately dispatches the closest and most appropriate units from either department. A similar system covers the entire Phoenix metro area. Rural/Metro isn’t part of a formal agreement like that but says it responds to other agencies’ calls for help when needed.

The situation could change in the next few years with the implementation of a countywide system that will let police and fire agencies communicate better. The taxpayer-funded project includes only public agencies right now, but private ones like Rural/Metro could buy in.

A Patchwork
The shootings on Jan. 8, which left six people dead and 13 wounded, took place in a part of metro Tucson with a patchwork of fire services.

North of Ina is the Mountain Vista district, formed by a merger of three smaller districts in 2008 and using Rural/Metro as a contract provider.

South of Ina is the Northwest Fire District, a department with a sprawling territory and public employees who work for the district, not a private contractor.

North of Mountain Vista is the publicly run Golder Ranch Fire District, which in recent years became the fire-service provider for most of Oro Valley.

And to the east is an area where Rural/Metro provides subscription service – that is, residents pay an annual fee for firefighting services.

While the Safeway on the southeast corner of West Ina and North Oracle roads is in the Northwest Fire District, the closest station is in the Mountain Vista district and staffed by Rural/Metro firefighters. It’s a mile up Oracle, at Magee Road.

Engine 77, the Rural/Metro fire engine at the closest fire station to the Safeway Jan. 8, never was called to the scene, said Scott Butler, administrative chief of the Mountain Vista Fire District. Neither was another Rural/Metro engine, which sat in a bay ready to roll, at 1833 E. Skyline Drive, just two miles away.

“We don’t have an ax to grind,” Butler said. “Folks did an excellent job. There’s just an opportunity to improve the system.”

The system as it exists now allows Northwest Fire to instantly reach Golder Ranch because of the “automatic aid” agreement, but it’s more complicated to contact Rural/Metro. That’s why an incident commander called in a Golder Ranch engine at about 10:30 that morning, even though a Rural/Metro engine was close to the scene, said Northwest Fire Capt. Adam Goldberg.

“The Golder Ranch engine was two or three minutes behind Rural/ Metro, but that time frame would’ve been overcome by the phone calls to their chief to get permission to switch over to the frequency and get them responding,” Goldberg said. “It was the lack of communication and lack of ability to start that engine on an automatic dispatch.”

Communication problems between fire agencies need to get fixed for the sake of Tucson-area residents, said Les Caid, a longtime Tucson Fire Department official who retired there as deputy chief, then was regional fire chief for Rural/Metro for four years.

“We need to have all the fire chiefs sit down and have a civil discussion on how we can establish interoperability to better serve the public,” Caid said.

Northwest Fire Chief Jeff Piechura has been with that department since 1988, and all that time there have been “numerous barriers, and because of the effort and energy it would take to do, it (a solution) has not been carried through.”

There’s also a question of money. As a private, publicly traded corporation, Rural/Metro must always keep its shareholders’ interests in mind, Caid said, and big expenses like revamping its communications system can hurt the company’s bottom line.

Said Piechura: “We have a working relationship” with Rural/ Metro. “Is it as seamless as other working relationships? No.”

“Send every ambulance”

After the initial 911 calls came in at 10:11 a.m. Jan. 8, Pima County sheriff’s deputies rushed to the scene and quickly realized they needed lots of help.

On the sheriff’s radio frequency, about four minutes after the initial call, an officer said, “Start multiple med units. Multiple people down, I’m counting at least 10.”

A minute later, Deputy Gilbert Caudillo told dispatchers, “Send every ambulance we have out here.”

Along with two others, a Rural/Metro ambulance from the Magee station arrived before deputies had secured the scene. The medical personnel were allowed to enter at 10:22 a.m.

Then, without being called by Northwest Fire’s incident commander, Rural/Metro’s Engine 77 went down to Ina and Oracle to prepare to be sent in.

Around that time someone on the Sheriff’s Department’s radio frequency said: “You might want go ahead and start Rural/Metro or Mountain Vista or whatever down here as well. We’re really short on medical personnel.”

Still, the Northwest incident commander never sent Engine 77 in.

Northwest Fire had multiple units at the scene within minutes and did not need more help, Goldberg said.

“We made the last call for help at 10:27 a.m., after that we didn’t need anybody else,” he said.

That account contrasts with the records of Golder Ranch Fire district. Golder Ranch engine 377 was requested and dispatched at 10:30 a.m., its records say, and arrived at the scene at 10:35 a.m., said John Sullivan a community services division chief for Golder Ranch Fire.

Recordings of the Northwest fire dispatch from Jan. 8, obtained by the Star through a public-records request, show that after 10:45 a.m. enough ambulances were at the scene for transportation, but responders were still seeking medical help and requested more units to treat victims.

Unused, Rural/Metro’s Engine 77 returned to its station at 10:48 a.m.

“I can’t speak for this situation but if an incident commander believed that a scene was under control, he would certainly deny a request from a neighboring agency saying, ‘Hey, we’re here. We want to come in,’ ” Goldberg said. “He would say, ‘Hey, we don’t need you – thanks, but we don’t need you.’ ”

How Phoenix Works
In the Phoenix area, when a 911 call comes in, the closest, most appropriate firetruck or ambulance is automatically dispatched regardless of district boundaries, said Capt. Scott McDonald a Phoenix fire spokesman.

“We really have no boundaries. We don’t hesitate to go anywhere,” McDonald said. “It’s about what’s best for the citizens, not about who responds.”

Goldberg said more cross-boundary cooperation requires that “the services have to be balanced,” adding that some fire departments may have less-experienced firefighters responding.

As it stands, he said, “There’s a difference of philosophies between fire departments, between private, Rural/Metro, and the public – resources, staffing, and equipment.”

That’s been a longstanding perception of Rural/Metro – that its personnel, staffing or equipment aren’t as good as other agencies, said Caid, the former Tucson Fire and Rural/Metro official. But he said any discrepancies that used to exist have been eliminated.

In Southern Arizona, all paramedics and EMTs receive the same training and certification from the same teachers, Rural/Metro’s chief Tom Brandhuber said.

Rural/Metro, Golder Ranch and Northwest stations in the area near the Safeway each has one engine and one ambulance and a total of six firefighters, certified paramedics or EMTs on staff.

Brandhuber said his fire department would like to offer and receive help from other fire departments when needed.

“It’s about the public. It’s not about the politics or about who’s public and who’s private,” he said.

Caid agreed – and he said he’s confident the public would, too. When someone is hurt and help is dispatched, he said, “I can guarantee that whoever’s injured doesn’t care if it’s a green, yellow or blue truck.”

About the Author
Contact reporter Fernanda Echavarri at 573-4224 or at fechavarri@azstarnet.com

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