The Rio Verde Fire District has a strong track record of responding to emergency incidents with a response time consistently averaging four minutes or less.

This response time meets the national standard set by the National Fire Protection Association and recommendations set by the American Heart Association.

A quick response time allows Rio Verde emergency personnel to mitigate an emergency medical situation before irreversible tissue and organ damage occurs, and provides for fast attack on a structure fire before the fire extends into hidden parts of the building.

The Verde Communities are a great place to live. The community is nestled in the upper Sonoran Desert and is isolated from, but in close proximity to, the Phoenix metropolitan area. However, this isolation creates challenges when providing emergency services.

Following initial emergency response by the Rio Verde Fire District, ambulance transport response was often lagging by as much as 30 minutes.

In 2011 the Rio Verde Fire District entered into a public/private partnership with Rural Metro Corporation to base and staff an advanced life support ambulance at Rio Verde Fire Station 441.

This partnership resolved the response time issue and placed a transport ambulance on the scene within four to six minutes of dispatch. Unfortunately, in April of 2015 Rural Metro Corporation made a corporate decision to terminate this contract arrangement.

With this notification, the Rio Verde Fire District applied to the Arizona Department of Health Services for a Certificate of Necessity to operate an ambulance transport service and was awarded the Certificate on Nov. 10.

This certificate allows the Rio Verde Fire District to continue its quick transport response while maintaining quality control of medical care for members of the community, from the initial response to the transfer of patient care at the receiving hospital emergency department.