Q. Who controls the District?
A. The District is governed by a five-member board elected at large by the voters. Board members are elected to alternating four-year terms so at least two are elected every two years. The Board establishes policy, recommends a tax rate, approves the budget, and hires the Fire Chief.

Q. What services are provided?
A. The Fire District provides fire and emergency medical services by career and reserve firefighters and state certified EMT’s and paramedics. The District has a full complement of fire, medical, and rescue equipment. The District also provides fire inspection and public education programs.

Q. Who pays for the District?
A. The District is organized under the laws of Arizona as a special district. It generates a majority of its revenue from a secondary property tax assessed on all real property. Based on a tax rate of $1.64 per $100 secondary assessed value, the annual tax on a $100,000 home would be $164.00.

Q. Who sets the tax rate?
A. The tax rate is set each August by the County Board of Supervisors based on the direction of the Fire Districts Board of Directors. The maxi­mum tax rate allowed is $3.25 per $100 secondary assessed value.

Q. When does the Fire Board meet?
A. The Fire Board holds regular meetings the second Monday of every month at 2 P.M., at the Central Yavapai Fire District Training Center, 9601 E Valley Rd, Prescott Valley.

Q. How do I pay for the District?
A. As a special district, the fire district’s taxes are assessed with other property taxes, such as school taxes. They can either be incorporated into a mortgage payment or paid when billed, with your other taxes.

Q. Does being in a Fire District affect my property insurance rate?
A. While insurance rates vary, you may realize a decrease in your property insurance premiums when you annex into the District, especially if you currently do not have fire protection.

Q. Are District taxes deductible?
A. Yes, if you itemize your tax deductions­.

Q. How do I annex into the District?
A. For an area to be considered for annexation into the District, the land must be contiguous with the District boundary. A majority of property owners and those representing a majority of the property value must support the annexation. To begin the process, a property owner should contact Assistant Chief of Administration Mary Dalton - (MDalton@centralyavapaifire.org) who will assist you with the process. You will begin by submitting a letter of intent to the Fire Board. The Fire Board will ask for an impact statement which will be reviewed at a public hearing. If the Board approves the impact statement, they will authorize the circulation of petitions in the annexation area. After the required signatures are gathered and verified by Yavapai County officials, the Fire Board will approve the annexation at a public board meeting. The annexation becomes effective thirty days following the Fire Board approval. The entire process may take up to one year. .


Q. Why do I see fire engines driving up and down the road? Why do I see fire engines driving around town? Why do I see fire engines driving around Prescott Valley? Why do I see so many fire engines driving up and down Highway 69 and Glassford Hill Road so many times during the day?
A. Central Yavapai Fire District has 6 full-time staffed fire stations. Three of our full-time staffed stations are in the Town of Prescott Valley, 1 in Dewey, 1 in Prescott and 1 on the Outer Loop Road. There are several reasons that fire engines may be driving without lights and sirens and appear to be “just driving around”.

• The engine may be returning to quarters after responding to an emergency call or responding to a “non-emergency” call, ie assisting an invalid back to bed.
• The engine may be responding to a call where they were requested to respond with no lights and sirens.
• The firefighters may be responding to a “move-up”. A move-up is a situation where a fire engine relocates to provide coverage for another station or unit that is responding to an emergency.
• Firefighters may be conducting driver training or area orientation.
• Firefighters may also be servicing/testing fire hydrants.
• Firefighters may have conducted a training exercise at the training center or at a location away from the fire station. Example: Mock disaster drill held at the local high school.

Firefighters also conduct business inspections while on duty. Business inspections help (reduce the potential for fires) protect businesses in our community as well as enable firefighters to become familiar with the entrances and exits of public buildings and make sure commercial properties are adhering to safety practices that reduce the potential for fires.

Q. Why is there a fire engine at the grocery store?
A. Firefighters are allowed to go to the grocery store on duty because personnel do not necessarily know who will be assigned to a station for the day, prior to the start of their shift. Vacations, sickness, injuries, etc. all cause daily vacancies that cause us to have to move employees to cover vacancies. This is no fault of the employee and its occurrence makes it extremely difficult to plan meals before arriving for duty. The fire district encourages station personnel to eat as a group for camaraderie so personnel cannot really plan their meals until all who are assigned to the station for the day arrive at the station. When units go to the store, they are in-service and are available to respond to incidents, so they carry portable radios with them and try to park in a location that is convenient for them to respond to incidents if they occur. Why not send someone in a private vehicle to go to the store you might wonder? In communities that have the luxury to have 4 or more personnel assigned to fire apparatus, they have the flexibility to do this, but in our district most of our units only have 3 personnel assigned to them. If we send an individual by private vehicle and that station receives an alarm while the individual is gone, then it becomes necessary to send a second unit along on the incident to have enough personnel to deal with the incident. This creates coverage problems for other areas of the District. We ask station personnel to try and make their trips to the store when they are already out of quarters conducting other duties and may be returning from a call, training, etc. There have been many instances when a trip to the grocery store has placed companies in closer proximity to emergency calls and their response times are usually quicker since they are on the road. We also encourage the crews to take the time to talk with the public when they are out and capitalize on fire/injury prevention education if children are present.

How do I ....?
Q. Schedule a ride-along with a fire crew?
A. You must be at least 18 years of age. You may ride with the fire crew between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and only once per year. Contact the Administration Office at (928)772-7711.

Q. Schedule a station tour?
A. The Central Yavapai Fire District offers tours of each of our six staffed fire stations.
For the location of our Stations go to the Stations and Apparatus page.
To schedule a tour, please contact the Community Risk Management Division at (928) 759-9933

Q. Get a copy of an EMS, fire or incident report?
A.EMS reports are not public record and this information is protected per HIPAA regulations. EMS reports are provided free of charge to the patient and, with a valid HIPAA authorization signed by the patient any other individual involved in the incident. Others may purchase the EMS report with a valid HIPAA authorization signed by the patient.
Incident reports are public record.
Fire Investigation reports are public information with some restrictions. Additional fees may be assessed for Fire Investigation Reports and/or pictures. To obtain copies of EMS / Fire incident reports click on the first link below. For all other requests for public records, click on the second link. Complete the request form and mail or bring it in person to the address below.

EMS / FIRE INCIDENT REQUEST FORM

PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST FORM

Central Yavapai Fire District
Custodian of Records
8555 E. Yavapai Road
Prescott Valley, AZ 86314

Q. Find out the closest fire station for my insurance company?
A. Contact the Administrative Office at (928) 772-7711.

Q. Enroll in a CPR class?
A. Contact the Administrative Office at (928) 772-7711.

Q. Check my smoke detector?
A. Each smoke detector has a test button, usually in the center of the detector. Press the test button and hold for a few seconds. If it is working correctly, the alarm will sound and will automatically stop after a few more seconds