City’s fire department changes name

The Cottonwood Fire Department will soon be changing its name to the Cottonwood Fire and Medical Services Department to better reflect what it offers to the surrounding community. The department employs 15 full-time paramedics and 12 full-time emergency medical technicians. From left are EMT Bill Matson, EMT Ben Kramer, paramedic Brady Casson, paramedic and Fire Chief Mike Kuykendall, paramedic Larry Wright and EMT Javier Anguiano.?
Zack Garcia/Larson Newspapers

The Cottonwood Fire Department is changing its name.

The department will now be called the Cottonwood Fire and Medical Services Department.

There won’t be a lot of other changes, Cottonwood Fire Chief Mike Kuykendall said, it’s more a reflection of the reality of services the department already provides.

The Cottonwood City Council discussed the changes at its Dec. 16 meeting.

The move calls for some minor revisions to the city code governing operation of fire services.

The changes are needed as a result of the way the department has evolved over time, Kuykendall said.

“The proposed revisions authorize the fire chief to adopt department-specific policies and procedures that are consistent with applicable federal and state law, as well as the city code and other directives of the council and city manager, and would otherwise update/align the code to reflect how the department actually operates,” City Attorney Steve Horton said. “They would also change the name of the department to recognize the fact that providing emergency medical services to the community constitutes a major part of what the Cottonwood Fire Department and other professional fire/EMS agencies around the state and country actually do.”

To read the full story, see the Wednesday, Dec. 24, edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.

Mark Lineberger

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