TUCSON, Ariz. — Both the Pima County Boards of Supervisors and Tucson's City Council are headed back to their chambers for their first meeting of the new year, both with South Tucson Fire Department on those agendas.
South Tucson's Fire Department has had a busy year, culminating in a South Tucson City Council vote to contract Rural Metro Fire Department to run the South Tucson fire Department.
While the department name and iconography isn't going anywhere, in an email sent to South Tucson Fire employees, city officials said "As a result of this change, all positions within the City of South Tucson Fire Department [...] are being eliminated effective January 31, [2026]. Accordingly, your employment with the City will conclude on that date."
So, starting February, the South Tucson Fire Department will lose their one full-time employee and over 30 reserves.
The contract with Rural Metro Fire Department is expected to save the City of South Tucson money. The department resources will be funded through a city property tax for the next 20 years, but a South Tucson press release says Pima County will share some of the contract costs.
That's one of the items on the Pima County Board of Supervisors agenda for their first January meeting.
The Intergovernmental Agreement— or IGA— lays out a four-year funding agreement totaling $1.2 million.
The county communication suggests that the city of Tucson would also help share the cost.
However, on the Tucson City Council agenda, the Mayor and Council are extending their agreement with the City of South Tucson, allowing them to send Tucson Fire crews to South Tucson calls.
Tucson Fire Assistant Chief Lewis Harris said that in the last two years, Tucson Fire was dispatched to South Tucson 92 times.
In 2025, they only stayed in South Tucson for just over a dozen calls.
“They handle their medical calls, so pretty much anything we get dispatched for is in the fire realm," Harris said. "We’ll get dispatched, we’ll get there, the first unit may get there and go—look we can handle this, the rest of the units can shut down, so 14 calls where we actually had to provide assistance so a house fire or above basically."
A representative from the City of South Tucson says about 80-90% of South Tucson Fire calls are medical.
Assistant Chief Harris says he doesn't see the changes in South Tucson affecting Tucson Fire's role in South Tucson too much.
"If they have a house fire," he said. "You can't fight a house fire with four people. You need a lot more trucks, so we're still coming on."
KGUN 9 reached out to the City of Tucson to talk about the changes to their fire department. We will update this article as we hear back.
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