The very first Maricopa fire station began inside Napa Auto Parts, and dates back to the 1970s. The department was a part-time, volunteer unit back then, and the first truck was a 1948 F-4 fire engine. It grew and evolved with the city over the decades to be what it is today: an EMS, fire and major disaster operations unit.
The full-time department responds to around 4,500 emergency incidents a year, with nearly 6,400 calls for service and 102 fire calls yearly, according to MFD spokesperson Chris Bolinger. The 60-person team of front-line personnel works and lives at the station for a third of their time on a 48 hour on/96 hour off schedule.
Up until this year, the fire department had never had an administration building that wasn’t mobile.