Our History

Summit Fire & Medical District has a rich history of working together to achieve the best possible service delivery model to the outlying communities of Flagstaff. That history dates to 1973, when Doney Park Fire District was established as the first predominantly career fire department in rural Flagstaff. Soon after, in 1977, Timberline-Fernwood Fire District, a volunteer staffed fire department, began servicing their community. The two-departments merged into Summit Fire & Medical District in 2001. Now combined, SFMD began providing All-Hazard response to over 10,000 residents of Doney Park, Timberline-Fernwood, Cosnino, and more.

2006 saw Summit Fire & Medical District enter into service of the Fort Valley area, increasing the District to 95 square miles and 12,000 residents. After the retirement of our former Fire Chief, Don Howard, Summit Fire & Medical District entered into a two-year Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with the City of Flagstaff to share the services of the Fire Chief, three Deputy Chiefs, and their support staff. This IGA continued through October 2025 when we hired our own fire chief, Earl Callander. Earl is a long-time resident of Doney Park and has many years in the fire service.  

Summit Fire & Medical District is currently comprised of 37 Line staff working off of three shifts (A, B, and C) on a 48/96 schedule. We staff three stations with a fully equipped Type 1 engine and a Type 3 Wildland engine out of each. Due to the rural area and lack of a robust water system, we also have two water tenders that are co-staffed at stations 31 and 37. Staffing is a minimum of three firefighters (one of which must be a Paramedic) on each engine. 1 Battalion Chief commands each shift and is stationed out of Station 32. We provide All-Hazard response to the citizens of our District and the many visitors we welcome year round, 24/7, 365.