# Phoenix Fire Department

The Phoenix Fire Department provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Phoenix, Arizona. The department responded to 242,067 calls during 2024, with 82% being for emergency medical services. The Phoenix Fire Department currently protects 1.5 million residents spread across an area of 520 square miles (1,300 km$^2$). It is dispatched by the Phoenix Fire Department Regional Dispatch Center and is one of 26 jurisdictions that participates in the Automatic Aid system.

## History

The Phoenix Fire Department was established as a volunteer fire department on August 17, 1886, with the formation of Engine 1. In 1922 the department transitioned from volunteers to career members. From 1924 to present day, the department created the A, B, and C shifts, which started and ended every third day at 8:00 AM.
On December 9, 1929, the Phoenix Fire Department suffered its first fatality in the line of duty. While responding to a call, Squad 1 and Engine 2 crashed into each other at 14th and Van Buren streets. Captain Jack Sullivan of Squad 1 was killed instantly.
In 1936 the Phoenix Fire Department joined the International Association of Firefighters and formed the union Local 493. The surrounding fire departments, Tempe, Glendale, Chandler, Surprise, and Peoria, are also part of Local 493.
On June 5, 2021 the Phoenix Fire Department responded to a fire at a recycling facility near 35th Avenue and Lincoln Street. The 6-alarm fire drew more than 200 firefighters to scene from 10 different agencies from across Arizona.

## Stations and apparatus

The Phoenix Fire Department is one of the busiest fire departments in the United States. Phoenix currently has 59 fire stations and 9 battalions. It has 66 engine companies, 14 ladder companies, and 33 rescue companies (ambulances). Some fire stations have two engine companies. The most recent station, #62, opened in February 2025. In February 2020, the fire department opened the 9th Battalion in the Central District. Each battalion is directed by one Battalion Chief per shift. Each district is administered by a Deputy Chief.

## FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (US&R) Team Arizona Task Force

The Phoenix-based FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team Arizona Task Force 1 (or AZ-TF1) is a FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force sponsored by the Phoenix Fire Department.
AZ-TF1 is one of 28 such FEMA US&R Rescue Teams with numerous disaster response capabilities such as search and rescue, hazardous material detection and decontamination, structural collapse rescue, technical search, emergency triage and medicine, live find and human remains detection canines, and disaster recovery. The Federal Emergency Management Agency created the geographically positioned teams in an effort to provide support for large-scale disasters in both the United States and the potential international response abroad. In recent years the FEMA US&R system has developed the ability for a modular response in the event a specific capability is needed during a disaster response. An example of this would be a swift-water rescue team needed to augment the current search and rescue assets already deployed. FEMA provides the financial, technical and training support for all 28 teams as well as manage an internal auditing system to verify and validate each team's ability to provide a standardized response of both personnel and equipment. AZ-TF1 is one of six task forces in the nation to be certified with training for WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) related incidents. AZ-TF1 is also the only task force in the US to have armed police officers respond with them. This has however led to controversy and suspension of service during 2005 Hurricane Katrina. AZ-TF1 had armed officers deployed alongside firefighters to protect them against armed looters. This in turn led to a break in FEMA's rules about firearms. AZ-TF1 was sent home with the then-Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon saying it is outrageous.

### Deployments

Noteworthy AZ-TF1 deployments include:
* 1994 Northridge earthquake, Los Angeles County, California
* 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
* 2001 World Trade Center, New York City, New York
* 2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City, Utah
* 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
* 2005 Hurricane Katrina
* 2008 Hurricanes Gustav/Ike
* 2014 Oso mudslide
* 2017 Hurricane Harvey/Irma/Maria
* 2018 Hurricane Florence
* 2024 Hurricane Helene

## Line of Duty Deaths

Since its inception, the Phoenix Fire Department has had 11 firefighters die in the line of duty.
| Name of Firefighter | Title | Last Alarm | Apparatus Placement | Cause of Death |
| John D. "Jack" Sullivan | Captain | December 9, 1929 | Squad 1 | Struck by another truck en route to a commercial structure fire. |
| Ambrose Shea | Firefighter | December 10, 1929 | Squad 1 | Struck by another truck en route to a commercial structure fire. |
| Randolf J. "Randy" Potts | Firefighter | August 6, 1974 | Engine 11-B | Crushed by a falling wall at a commercial structure fire. |
| Walter D. Kelson | Engineer | March 12, 1977 | Engine 23-A | Drowned trying to save drowning children at Lake Pleasant. The children survived. |
| Chauncey E. Ray Jr. | Firefighter | March 12, 1977 | Engine 23-B | Drowned trying to save drowning children at Lake Pleasant. The children survived. |
| Dale R. Lockett | Firefighter | August 5, 1979 | Engine 25-A | Fell through a roof during a fire. |
| Ricky S. Pearce | Engineer-HazMat Technician | November 15, 1984 | Ladder 4-B | Spontaneous explosion while working in a worker-trapped confined space rescue storage tank. |
| Timothy J. Hale | Engineer | February 12, 1994 | Engine 15-A | Crushed by a truck while unloading a gurney from the back of the ambulance. |
| Bret R. Tarver | Firefighter Paramedic | March 14, 2001 | Engine 14-C | Became disoriented and ran out of air while interior of a 5-alarm supermarket fire. |
| Mark S. Carter | Engineer Paramedic | June 4, 2007 | Engine 37-A | Found in cardiac arrest inside of a fire truck by a civilian. |
| Bradley C. Harper | Firefighter | May 19, 2013 | Rescue 21-B | Pinned between his ambulance and a fire truck during a mulch fire. |