The first day of the new year will mark an historic moment for the Town of Queen Creek as its first fire department will take charge of fire safety and emergency services for the Town's more than 23,000 residents.
Seventeen firefighters were sworn in Wednesday to staff Queen Creek’s existing fire station in the Town Center, with additional firefighters set to be sworn in at the Jan. 16 Town Council meeting to staff the Town’s second fire station at the intersection of Sossaman and Cloud roads.
As part of an intergovernmental agreement with the Town of Gilbert to provide interim fire services, Queen Creek is hiring fire department staff, while Gilbert is providing engines and equipment until January 2009, when Queen Creek will be ready to launch its own municipal fire department. Under contract with Gilbert, Queen Creek will also be part of the Mesa regional 911 dispatch system which serves a number of East Valley communities.
The firefighters who were sworn in by Judge David Phares from the Town of Gilbert include Lee Barnes, Gregory Berkel, Eric Dedinger, Patti Elzer, Theordore Ford, Cody Goble, Kyle Krebs, Keith Lloyd, Andrew Marlar, Ryan Nemec, Jeffrey Otter, Matthew Skowron, Michael Snell, Eric Tinkham, Andrew Weertman, Andrew Wolfery and Robert Zeigler.
