Department History  

        The Tri-City Fire District lies within Gila County in southern Arizona.  We are a very small and proud organization that was started in 1922.  It consisted of the areas of Midland City, Claypool and Lower Miami.  It was started to provide fire protection for the citizens that worked in the local copper mines.

         In 1991 Tri-City Fire started providing Emergency Medical Services to the district residents.   In 1997 we hired our first paid personnel. We started with one fire fighter/paramedic on each shift.  In 2002 we merged with the Central Heights Fire District.  This increased our call volume and made our community stronger.  In 2003 we took on another hurdle, the local ambulance service, which was no longer able to provide quality service.

   Like any good fire department we are multifaceted. Services we provide to our citizens include:

• Fire Protection
• Emergency Medical Services
• Ambulance Transport
• Fire Prevention, Building Inspections, Tracking Chemical Storage and Burn Permits
• Public Education
• Technical Rescue

        Our Department participates as a member in the county wide technical rescue teams.  We are trained to provide a high level of experience at Hi-Angle Rope, Swift Water, Confined Space and Haz-Mat incidents.

       The Tri-City Fire District proudly protects 8000 people living in an area of 18 square miles. We operate out of 3 stations that protect a primarily residential area. Our department is a public department whose members are on a combination of paid and volunteer status. The areas we protect include Central Heights, Claypool, Little Acres,  the Wheatfields area, and Ambulance service to all of southern Gila County, about 800 square miles.  We feel that our personnel are our most important asset, currently about 35 members, 14 of these are paid.  We still rely heavily on our volunteers to make things happen. In 2004 we responded to 2,548 emergency calls for service.