GOLDEN VALLEY – Nestled in an area once called Sacramento Valley between the Cerbat and Black Mountains, and stretching north from Interstate 40 toward Dolan Springs, the 300-plus square miles of desert landscape is now referred to as Golden Valley.
Some of the valley is quite rugged and inaccessible by vehicles and includes parcels of land owned by citizens, companies, corporations, the State of Arizona and public lands controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.
In the early days, referred to as the Golden Valley Fire Department, it only had one fire station that was located midway in the valley on Mayer Road. The fire department had a part-time administrative person, a fire chief, three shift supervisors (firefighters) and three firefighter/engineers; however, they also had about 12 volunteer firefighters who helped out staffing position levels to fight fires and traffic accidents when needed.
Now called the Golden Valley Fire District (GVFD), its firefighters are responsible for about 180 square miles of the valley. GVFD does respond out-of-district when needed and also has out-of-district contracts with Griffith Energy, Unisource Black Mountain Energy and Kingman Energy Corporation, to provide them with fire suppression and emergency medical service (EMS). According to GVFD Fire Chief Dave Cunningham, they continue to negotiate with other businesses outside of the fire district that currently do not have fire protection or EMS available to them because of their locations.
Tasked with providing fire suppression and EMS, GVFD is headed up by Chief Cunningham who has been a paid employee of the fire district for more than 24 years. Cunningham began working in the fire service as a volunteer firefighter with GVFD while he was a junior at Kingman High School. After becoming a paid firefighter, Cunningham worked his way up through the ranks from firefighter, to firefighter/engineer, to firefighter/captain and finally took on the reins as the fire chief.
The $2.6 million fire district currently has three fire stations. Station #11 is on Bacobi Road (the eastern side of the valley just north of Highway 68), the administration office and Station #12 are on Egar Road (the western side of the valley south of Highway 68) and Station #13 is on Oatman Highway just west of Shinarump Drive).
There are 18 full-time firefighters and a staff member who serves as the administrator and comptroller. There are normally seven firefighters on duty at any given time; that includes two firefighters at Station #12, two at Station #13 and three at Station #11 (the shift captain works out of this station) in addition to five volunteer firefighters that includes a 20-year-old female, and the fire chief and Battalion Chief David Martin who work out of the administration office. The fire district also has numerous POCs (paid on call) firefighters who work on their normal days off from other fire districts and departments.
The GVFD also has mutual aid agreements with the various fire districts and fire departments. They also have a HAZMAT team and a rope team made up of the GVFD firefighters and they can be called out on a moment’s notice if needed.
Battalion Chief David Martin has more than 40 years of fire service that began with the California Department of Forestry. His last 24 years has been with GVFD, working up from firefighter, to firefighter/engineer, to firefighter/captain and he finally took on the responsibilities as battalion chief/fire marshal.
GVFD also provides firefighters and equipment for the Wildland Fire Program. They currently have two firefighters and one Type 6 Attack Unit working the fires in California.
Three captains run the shifts. Captain Kevin Gifford is in charge of Shift A, Captain Robert Arnold is charge of Shift B and Captain Boyd Lewis is in charge of Shift C. There are times when the GVFD is short of personnel to work so the captains will step down and fill the void as the captain/firefighter/engineer until such time other personnel are available.
In addition to the $2.6 million budget, GVFD periodically receives grants for equipment. The have received various grants in the past for equipment, and during 2019 they received a $261,800 Assistance Fire Grant (AFG – federal grant) for firefighter air packs.
According to GVFD officials, they continually attempt to provide quality fire protection and EMS services to the residents of Golden Valley, and if needed, out of district areas too.
- Butch Meriwether
