Verde Valley FD’s Johnson Has Also Headed the CV District Since 2023
Verde Valley Fire District Fire Chief Danny Johnson gave a presentation to the Camp Verde Town Council on the potential joint powers agreement between Verde Valley Fire District and Copper Canyon Fire District and Medical District at a work session on Wednesday, Feb. 25.
In September 2023, Johnson assumed a dual leadership role as the fire chief of the Copper Canyon Fire and Medical District in addition to his role as chief of VVFD since March 2021. CCFMD Fire Chief Terry Keller resigned on March 7, 2023, as the board was in the midst of financial difficulties discovered after the merger of the Camp Verde and Montezuma-Rimrock fire districts in 2016.
Johnson provided updates and accomplishments within CCFMD. Last year, CCFMD responded to 3,845 calls for service with 1,979 from Station 81 and 707 calls from Station 83. As a district, they conducted 2,014 ambulance transports and had 96 fire calls. He said last year it finished its second year of audits in a row with a positive cash flow.
“There’s been a lot of work that’s gone in to make this a stable fire district and we want to continue to do that,” Johnson said. “A lot of that goes to the leadership of my board and the investment that they’ve made in this fire district and in this community.”
Johnson said the district is now able to put funding in its operational fund balance. In a fire district, he said, it gets most of its funding twice a year, and with no money in the operational fund, it would go negative within the first couple weeks of the fiscal year. At one point, it was budgeting almost $60,000 a year just in interest on loans to make payroll. Now that they can add to their operational fund, they no longer need to do this.
The community risk reduction agreement between VVFD, CCFMD and Sedona Fire District was finalized, allowing community risk reduction, fire marshals and fire inspectors to work together across district boundaries. VVFD and CCFMD crews were deployed for over two months on wildland fire assignments across the Southwest. By deploying together, the districts were able to pull from a larger pool of employees and keep their resources out there longer, which provides a revenue stream for the district.
Looking toward the future, Johnson said they will continue to seek grant opportunities and have been successful in acquiring grants for equipment, vehicles and personal protective equipment. The district will also look at potential debt restructuring.
The district will continue legislative advocacy for fire districts and their firefighters. The funding model for rural fire districts was created in the 1960s and is outdated, he said, adding that the current model places an inequitable burden on property owners. Johnson said firefighter advocates have also been working on changing legislation to have district firefighters benefit from Arizona’s Municipal Firefighter Cancer Reimbursement Fund.
“Cancer in the fire service is the No. 1 killer of firefighters across the nation and really, across the world,” Johnson said. “What we’re exposed to and what’s burning is different than what was burning decades ago and we’re having a huge issue with cancer in the fire service.”
With the current funding model, district firefighters are left out of the municipal risk pool which covers firefighters working for cities. What’s unique to Camp Verde, as well as Clarkdale and Sedona, is that the area is covered by fire districts. Each town pays money annually to a risk pool that the firefighters who cover these towns cannot access. Johnson said that over the past four years since the fund was started, Clarkdale has paid $60,000 into it, Camp Verde $154,000 and Sedona $125,000.
The Verde Valley has experienced increased population growth and density. Over the past 18 months, VVFD and CCFMD’s boards, staff and firefighters have been discussing and researching the benefits and direction for a regional fire authority between both districts.
A fire authority or joint partnership agreement is a partnership model that combines leadership, coordination, emergency response and administrative functions while each district retains its own taxing authority. Johnson clarified that this is not a rescue plan and that both districts are in a good spot financially. They are addressing whether the districts’ organizational design is keeping pace with the increased risk profile and modern emergency services model needed to match that.
Johnson is the president of the Arizona Fire District Association and has access to data across the state. There are 143 fire districts in Arizona, and of the top 13 districts, 11 of the most stable are either a product of a joint powers agreement or merger. Johnson said this does not eliminate any district, does not change taxing authority and does not change who responds to emergencies or reduce that response. The same crews will still respond and the same communities will still be served. Rather, JPAs improve inconsistencies, reduce duplication and are responsible with tax dollars.
Both local districts will still be governed by five-member boards as each district has a different mill rate. Johnson stated that the same dollars will be spent, not more, just restructured. The budget design will remove duplication in both agencies.
“Our firefighters and our medics today, they already respond to the same calls,” Johnson said. “They respond to the same incidents … they do it well, but I don’t want ‘good’ to hold an opportunity for ‘better’ hostage. We believe it’s building a structure that will serve this Verde Valley region for generations to come.”
The JPA reduces variability between shifts, stations and jurisdictions while strengthening consistency in command, training, prevention and expectations. Johnson believes this will provide a stronger response system and safer firefighters.
Johnson outlined the next steps for the JPA. He has been having a series of community meetings since a kickoff meeting almost two years ago. He estimated that in April he will ask the board to make a decision so that over the next year they can work on building it to have the new entity ready by July 1, 2027.
