SOUTH TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — City leaders in South Tucson say the city’s fire department will remain in place as it prepares to partner with Rural Metro Fire and EMS, a move officials say is aimed at stabilizing emergency response amid ongoing staffing challenges, though it remains unclear how many — if any — current reserve firefighters will remain when the partnership begins in February.
The partnership is set to begin Feb. 1 and follows years of difficulty maintaining consistent staffing levels at the South Tucson Fire Department.
Mayor Roxanna Valenzuela said the agreement does not dissolve the department and keeps operational control with the city. “The city is going to continue to have oversight of all the operations,” Valenzuela said. “The only thing that’s changing is that we’re going to be hiring out the staff piece of it to Rural Metro.”
According to City Manager Veronica Moreno, most South Tucson firefighters currently serve in reserve roles while working full time for other departments, including Tucson Fire. Moreno said policy changes at some of those departments have limited firefighters’ ability to continue working secondary shifts in South Tucson.
Those changes led to staffing losses earlier this year in June, with additional losses expected by the end of December, according to Moreno. City leaders say that reality played a major role in the decision to bring in Rural Metro to oversee staffing and provide a more reliable response model.
Moreno also said the department’s only full-time employee, Fire Captain Andy Luna, is expected to retire within the next year. She said the city has offered Luna what she described as a “generous retirement package.”
For local business owners, the focus is on whether the change leads to faster and more dependable emergency response in a city that sees a high number of calls despite its small size.
Heather Moroso, who runs Moroso Medical Center in South Tucson, said the demand on fire and EMS services is high for a city that spans just over one square mile. “There’s a crazy amount of fires for some place that’s 1.1 miles squared,” Moroso said. “And it keeps happening again and again and largely in the same locations.”
The partnership is also tied to a proposed intergovernmental agreement with Pima County that would provide funding support to South Tucson. That agreement is expected to be discussed publicly at a January meeting.
KGUN 9 reached out to the South Tucson Fire Department for comment, but the department declined to comment at this time.
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