Bullhead City Fire Department :: www.bullheadfire.org

On February 15, 1947 an election was held to decide whether or not Bullhead City should have its own fire department. The vote was unanimous; 33-0 in favor. On February 24, by order of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, the Bullhead City Fire District was created. At that time, the fire district covered one square mile in the area of what is now referred to as original Bullhead City. The fire station was located next to the town Chamber of Commerce near the intersection of Main and Fourth Street. The department consisted of 15 volunteer members and the first fire chief was O.C. Buck. There were no fire hydrants in the district at that time and the fire department served the community with a 1948 Army surplus fire truck.

As the district grew in area, more equipment was needed to meet the needs of the community. In 1956, a used 1949 Cadillac was acquired as a rescue vehicle and stayed in service until the late 1960's when a private ambulance company began to service the area. In 1957, Marvin Sansom became the second fire chief and served for 4 years.

In 1961, the third fire chief, Glenn Medlin, took over and served until 1965. The very first brand new fire truck purchased by the Bullhead City Fire Department was in the early 1960's. A 1963 G.M.C. Boardman was placed in service at a cost of $17,600. This engine was designated E #1. In 1965, the Cadillac rescue was replaced with a new Stoner built Chevrolet Suburban rescue unit. This year also saw Ralph Dunlavy elected to the position of fire chief.

In 1970, the Bullhead City Fire District acquired some federal land on Hancock Road. The building of Station 1 was started in August and completed in November. In 1971 Larry Adams was elected to the position of fire chief, the apparatus was moved to the new Station 1 site, two full time firemen were hired to man the station 24 hours a day, the private ambulance company went out of business, and the Bullhead City Fire Department unofficially went into the ambulance business.

In October of 1972, the department received its official A.C.C Charter and became the first fire department based ambulance service in Arizona, covering a service area of 690 square miles. In 1973, Len Pember was hired as the new Deputy Chief. In May, at a cost of $50,000, the department took delivery of a new 1250 g.p.m. Crown Fire truck, E-6. In addition, a new ambulance was placed in service. On July 5th of 1973, E-6, Rescue 8, and 10 members of the department responded to a mutual aid call in Kingman. The fire they responded to was the now infamous propane explosion that killed 13 Kingman firefighters. This same year saw the hiring of 5 new members, bringing the total to 6 career firefighters.

Station 2, located on Main just south of First Street was built in 1974. Also, this same year, a state law was passed that required fire chiefs to be elected by the general public. Up to this time, all previous fire chiefs in Bullhead City were elected by the membership of the department. A fire district election was held, Larry Adams was elected chief and remained in that position until 1989.

Over the next several years, the Bullhead City Fire Department saw many changes in apparatus, personnel, and call volume. The town was beginning to grow due to the casinos and the popularity of the water sports available on the lake and river. Chuck Allred was the second Deputy Chief hired by the department. He had a short career with Bullhead City, serving only a few months in 1979. At this time there were only 14 full time members of the fire department. Bill Wagner, formerly of the Prescott Fire Department, started his career with the Bullhead City Fire Department as Deputy Chief in 1980. In the minds of many, this year started the phenomenal growth period that continues to this day.

In late 1982, the Mohave Valley Fire Department started serving all areas south of Boundary Cone Road with an ambulance service. This effectively cut the service area of the Bullhead Ambulance Service in half. At this time the fire district was approximately 33 square miles. In 1983, the citizens living in the Punta de Vista and Lake Mohave Highlands sub-divisions voted to become part of the fire district.

In 1986, the Fort Mojave Fire Department started an ambulance service, which further cut this ambulance district to its current 230 square miles. Also this same year, the residents in the Rio Lomas sub-division voted to join the Bullhead City Fire District. During the late 1980's, two other annexations occurred in the southern end of the fire district. This included the areas of Clearwater Hills, Arroya Vista Estates, and El Camino Village, bringing the fire district to its current 45.9 square miles.

The most significant change that has occurred to the Bullhead City Fire Department happened in 1989. At this time, the citizens of the community elected to change from an elected fire chief and secretary/treasurer to a fire board consisting of five members. The first chairman of the board was Allen Carlson, who had been a volunteer member of the department for many previous years. Also, because of the change in structure, Bill Wagner was promoted to the position of fire chief, making him the first full time career chief of the department.

Station 3, on the corner of McCormick and Mercer in the northern part of the fire district was manned full time in November of 1989. Late 1990 saw the opening of the 9-1-1 joint dispatch center. The Bullhead City Fire Department in cooperation with the City of Bullhead City built and manned a state of the art facility from which to dispatch emergency units. In October of 1991, Station 4 at the Laughlin/Bullhead City International Airport opened and was manned full time. At nearly the same time, a temporary Station 5 near the entrance to Palo Verde Meadows sub-division opened.

Several subdivisions were opened along the newly created "Bullhead Parkway" that ran along the eastern boundary of the city. One of these subdivisions, El Camino Village, donated a prime parcel of land along the parkway that would become permanent Station 5. On September 6, 1995 the grand opening for this station was held and the temporary station was closed. On January 1, 1996 the airport internalized the airport firefighting operation and the Bullhead City Fire Department distributed the existing staffing to other fire stations and discontinued full time service to the Laughlin/Bullhead City International Airport. There is currently a back-up agreement in place between the airport authority and the Bullhead City Fire Department to assist in any emergency that may occur on airport property.

Late 1997 saw a considerable remodel to Fire Station 1. This remodel expanded the living quarters and provided much needed space for a rapidly expanding department. In January of 1998, after 18 years of service to the citizens of Bullhead City, Fire Chief Bill Wagner retired to pursue his hobbies and spend more time with his family. His retirement didn’t last long as he was elected to the Arizona House of Representatives from District 3 in November of 2002. Replacing Chief Wagner, by an appointment of the fire district board was the current Assistant Fire Chief, Rick Southey, who started his firefighting career with the Bullhead City Fire Department in January of 1982 at the age of 22.

On February 14, 2000 the grand opening for Fire Station 6 was held. As far as it is known, this is the first fire station of the new millennium to be opened in the State of Arizona. The fire station was built to relieve some of the call volume pressure from Fire Station 1 and to provide a much more effective service to those who live in the densely populated River Bend area of the community.

A new administrative wing was added to Fire Station 2 in 2002 to accommodate the expanding fire prevention and public education bureaus of the fire department. Moving the offices into the new wing provided much needed space for shift living quarters and a new training room. Members who were assigned to Station 2, as well as a few others, under the general supervision of Bullhead City Fire Department Captain Craig Stephenson, undertook a major renovation of this facility to improve the living conditions and increase the efficiency of the station. This project took nearly a year but was well worth the effort and saved the taxpayers of the community a considerable amount of money by keeping most of the project in-house.

In 2004, a major development, Laughlin Ranch, was started. This is a master planned community that may well encompass many square miles, up to 40,000 new residences, and nearly 100,000 new inhabitants. The build out projection at this time is 15 to 20 years. Plans are currently underway to determine the best fire station locations and the most efficient manner in which to protect the new area. We are looking forward to the challenge.

From its humble beginnings of 1 Army surplus pumper and 15 volunteer members in 1947 the Bullhead City Fire Department has grown. Currently, the Bullhead City Fire Department is manning 5 stations with nearly 85 career employees and approximately 12 reserve, or part-time employees. There are 7 fire engines, 1 ladder truck, 9 ambulances, 2 squad vehicles, 10 staff vehicles, a hazardous materials response trailer, two dive/rescue boats, and a tactical operations vehicle.

The members of the Bullhead City Fire Department are trained to provide various services to the citizens of the community. These include fire suppression, fire prevention, fire investigation, public education, public information, emergency medical service, ambulance service, dive rescue, swift water rescue, vertical rope rescue, high angle rescue, hazardous materials response, confined space rescue, and various forms of public assistance. Much of the time needed for training to become proficient in the various aspects of the fire service is donated by the members.