The Scottsdale Firefighters Association recently reached an important milestone. Twenty years ago, Scottsdale took over its fire department from Rural Metro. It has been an honor to serve the city. To mark this moment in time, we will be launching our Fireside Chat initiative.

I’m Sasha Weller, President of the Scottsdale Firefighters Association.

We are making ourselves available to answer your questions about what we do, how we do it and how you can stay safe. If you would like one of our firefighters to speak at a meeting of your organization, please email me at info@scottsdalefirefighters.org. If you would like to subscribe to our upcoming newsletter, email me at info@scottsdalefirefighters.org.

The Scottsdale Fire Department and its dedicated firefighters are not in the business of “no.” When you call for help, we respond. Whether it’s a house fire, brush fire, a medical emergency, an auto accident with injuries, rescuing stranded hikers, or a snake in your kitchen, you can depend on us to answer your call.

If you consider something to be an emergency, so do we. Last year we responded to approximately 35 thousand calls. Many of those calls involve risks such as dodging debris during a house fire or dodging traffic while treating an injured motorist. Sometimes the risk involves exposure to cancer-causing materials. That’s why cancer rates among our firefighters are sadly higher than the general population. But that’s a topic for another update.

But most of the time our job involves showing compassion and empathy when someone needs it most. We often come in contact with people who are experiencing trauma, pain, fear or loss. It’s all part of protecting the community and we are proud to do it.

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