The Payson Volunteer Fire Department was first organized by a concerned group of citizens in 1946. Those citizens worked hard to improve the volunteer fire department by securing apparatus and equipment and building a station house on Main Street. During the 1950’s, they formed an official fire district. Forming a fire district enabled them to raise money through a property tax in order to purchase all the things a fire department required. Communications were a challenge as this was long before radios were commonly available. In fact, the signal for a fire was three rifle shots fired into the air. That volunteer department continued to grow and serve the citizens of the Payson area until 1976. That year, Payson became an incorporated Town and the fire district became a part of the Town of Payson as a municipal fire department. The fire department was still staffed with all volunteers!

Later in 1976, the Town hired a paid fire chief as the first paid employee of the fire department. Growth and progress continued and in 1980 the Town hired an assistant fire chief. Three more people were hired in 1983, and Payson had its first three “shift personnel” on the fire department. That made five full-time employees for the Payson Fire Department. Several of the full-time personnel completed paramedic certification in 1986 to enable the PFD to staff Gila County’s first paramedic level response unit. Organizational changes have continued over the years to meet community needs. In 2000 the Payson Fire Department opened its second station. In 2003 the Payson Fire Department put its first aerial apparatus in service. Payson’s third fire station opened August 15, 2011 to service the east side of Payson. A new staffing model was implemented utilizing reserve firefighters to fill out the third position on E121. In August of 2012 the PFD received a federal SAFER grant paying for 6 additional firefighters for 2 years. These firefighters were used to bring staffing on PFD engines back up to 3 firefighters plus one reserve position when fully staffed. Beginning July 1, 2013 the Payson Fire Department position of Fire Marshal was eliminated. Fire prevention and code enforcement responsibilities were spread out to operations personnel, the Town of Payson building department, and outside contractors. The way the Payson Fire Department delivers services has changed over the years but our commitment to excellent service to our customers remains the same. We continue to do our job to the best of our ability by putting our customers first. This is illustrated with the Payson Fire Department being voted “Best Town Department” for 2013 by the readers of The Payson Roundup. As our past Fire Marshal Bob Lockhart used to say, “We care and it shows.”

Today, the fire department has 31 full-time employees with between 7 and 12 reserve firefighters. It is still considered to be a combination fire department- that is part full-time employees and part reserve firefighters. Our volunteer firefighters are now paid for their services and are now known as reserve firefighters. A strong force of volunteers has continued since 1946 and helps make the Payson Fire Department the fine organization that it is today. Our rehabilitation/support group provides rehabilitation services to emergency responders on large incidents. This all-volunteer organization responds regionally to all of Northern Gila County and is an integral part of our commitment to firefighter and first responder safety.

The Payson Fire Department provides fire prevention and education, fire suppression, paramedic level emergency medical and rescue services, technical rescue, and hazardous materials operations level response 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We serve the citizens of Payson, contracted communities, visitors, and businesses through our primary Town of Payson jurisdiction, contract services areas, the Tonto Apache Reservation, and approximately 58 miles of Arizona state highways.