The Avra Valley Fire District covers a 265 square mile stretch of the far northwest Tucson Valley. Last year they ran into huge financial problems, forcing the governing board to lay off more than half of their firefighters and close two fire stations. But now, changes are on the way.

Firefighters and EMT’s go to work every day to help people in trouble, but it wasn’t too long ago that the Avra Valley Fire District had problems of it’s own. “It was just a mismanagement of funds, and we went close to $800,000 in debt altogether,” says Avra Valley Firefighter/EMT Patrick Calhoun.

That debt cost 13 firefighters their jobs, including Calhoun’s. “I got laid off, and I was here for four years, and so I came back,” he says. Calhoun says four others did as well.

Now they say there’s a different attitude in the northwest Tucson Valley these days. “Now we’re completely out of the red, and in the black and just still here,” Calhoun says. It’s all part of the ever-changing Avra Valley Fire District.

The most recent change came when Northwest Medical Center terminated it’s contract with the district to be their base hospital. “A base hospital is, simply put, as EMT’s and paramedics, we need some sort of medical direction,” says Calhoun.

Soon, that medical direction could come from Tucson’s west side. “If all goes as planned, St. Mary’s will act as the new base hospital for the Avra Valley Fire Department,” says Calhoun.

Firefighters say there will be no real difference for people in Avra Valley, which couldn’t be said when the layoffs occurred in December. “To be completely honest, we did fall off a little bit,” says Calhoun. It’s something he says the increased workforce should help change from here on out.