Rural/Metro Corp. has little to lose financially in the upcoming election in which voters will decide whether to retain the company's contract with Scottsdale for fire service.

Scottsdale has found there is no manual explaining how to build a fire department.

Scottsdale has found there is no manual explaining how to build a fire department.

Scottsdale needed to spend $6.4 million on its transition to a municipal fire department like it needed the proverbial hole in the head, but with the withdrawal of the private provider Rural/Metro Corp. in 14 months, the expense must be undertaken.

The first initiative in Scottsdale history will give residents the power to maintain their long-held fire service relationship with Rural/Metro Corp. or develop a city-run fire department.

While many fire crews from the East Valley have returned home from the California wildfires, Rural/Metro Fire Department still has a crew from its Pinal County operations putting out hot spots.

Rural/Metro Corp. has appointed a president to oversee its fire operations and plans to model itself after Valley fire departments by adding more crews and joining a regionwide emergency response system.

The Copper Basin development in Pinal County will have its first fire station today when staff and equipment from Rural/Metro Fire Department’s former Gilbert station move in.

After more than a half-century and a bitter spring election in which it fought to keep private fire service in the city, Scottsdale-based Rural/Metro Corp. announced Wednesday it would sever key ties with its birthplace.

The Rural/Metro brand name will likely shrink more than originally expected in its hometown by 2005.

During his long and storied ownership of the Rural/ Metro Corp., the late Louis A. Witzeman Jr. was described by his family and former colleagues as someone who loved Scottsdale and serving the community.

Queen Creek officials had their first meeting with Rural/Metro Fire Department on Friday to push for refunds for town residents who paid for fire service subscriptions no longer needed.

About 28 Southwest Ambulance and Rural/Metro Fire Department employees were laid off this week in Maricopa County as part of a streamlining process.

Mayor Art Sanders highlighted a refund agreement with Rural/Metro and Queen Creek's economic development and transportation projects in his final state of the town address Wednesday night.

Firefighters who spearheaded a campaign to terminate Rural/Metro's role in Scottsdale made fatal errors when they attempted to paint the company as an evil corporate entity and engaged in debates about cost, political observers said.

April 20, 2005

Rural/Metro Corp. was fined $1 million and lost its ambulance contract with Fort Worth and 13 other Texas cities this week in a shake-up felt in Scottsdale, where officials are seeking a new 911 ambulance service.

Rural/Metro Corp., the emergency services company founded in Scottsdale more than half a century ago, will move its corporate headquarters out of the city and into a new office complex next year on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.

At midnight a voice came over the dispatch radio: "Congratulations, Scottsdale. Twenty-four-hundred hours."

At midnight a voice came over the dispatch radio: "Congratulations, Scottsdale. Twenty-four-hundred hours."

Queen Creek residents may not get the refunds promised by Rural/Metro Fire Department when Queen Creek’s new fire department took over the town’s fire service.

The wait is over for Queen Creek residents who overpaid for Rural/Metro fire subscription services and expected refunds when the town started its own fire department.