History

Copper Canyon Fire and Medical District is a newly minted agency responsible for providing fire suppression, emergency medical service, rescue, hazardous materials response, and fire prevention services to the communities of Camp Verde, McGuireville, Rimrock, and Lake Montezuma.

 

Since the District’s humble beginning in 1961, members of the Camp Verde Fire District continually trained and prepared to respond to help their friends and neighbors when the siren sounded. Neighbors helping neighbors was the founding spirit behind the District, and it is still alive and well today.

 

In June of 1968, a resident decided to burn trash behind his house on Sycamore Lane.  The wind picked up and the fire grew and spread to the neighbor’s house. The neighbor was asleep and got out with only the clothes on his back. The fire destroyed his house and continued to burn weeds and trees until it came to Cottonwood Dr. where the road stopped it. The Forest Service and Camp Verde Fire District showed up to finish putting it out. The Property Owners’ Association was inspired by this event to establish a fire district. On February 10, 1969, an election was held, and it was voted to proceed.

 

The Camp Verde and Montezuma Rimrock Fire Districts adopted a Joint Powers Agreement to operate as the Copper Canyon Fire and Medical Authority on July 1, 2016, a legal agreement that both districts entered to operate as a single organization. By governing board approval, on November 20th, 2018, both the Montezuma Rimrock and Camp Verde Fire Boards individually resolved to merge the two districts to form the Copper Canyon Fire and Medical District.

 

On January 2nd, 2019, the new district commenced operations with the goal to increase the effectiveness of the organization's productivity by maximizing the efficiencies they had already attained through collective work as one agency.