The Eloy Fire District was formed in August of 1946, prior to the City of Eloy being incorporated. EFD began as a volunteer organization and is now a full time, all hazards, and fully operational 24/7, 365 days a year operation. Eloy is located half way between Phoenix and Tucson, bordering the City of Casa Grande.
Currently the Eloy Fire District serves over 10,300 residents in an area over 55 square miles, including Interstate 10 & 8, State Highways 84 & 87 and the Union Pacific Railway, as well as the Eloy Municipal Airport home to world famous Skydive Arizona.
EFD is designated a Fire District with two staffed fire stations, approximately 35 full-time employees, and a few part-time employees. EFD responds in both ambulance and fire apparatus with the main source of calls being EMS in nature.
Words from a former long term employee. Don’t let this review fool you…99% of the ground level employees are great. They do their jobs because they love the job and they love the community they serve. However, anything above a Captain and you cannot trust them.
The root if the problem – The Battalion Chiefs, Asst. Chief, and Fire Chief are “good ole’ boys” who are just small town farmers who somehow wound up in charge of a multimillion dollar organization..Promoted with zero proven leadership traits or training. The culture is horrible and extremely toxic from the top because of their “well thats how it’s always been” attitude. There have been many harassment claims against BC’s and others in charge filed by the firefighters, and yet, those good ole boys somehow still have a position of leadership and/or their jobs. The broom that sweeps things under the rug is strong and powerful here. (A quick google search of Eloy Fire will only show some of the bigger problems that managed to get out due to legal proceedings and news agencies doing some digging). There is also zero accountability once you reach a Chief level. Quite literally you can do whatever you want and retain your job, including harassment, covering up injuries, and checking en-route & on scene to calls while still laying in bed. Wild.
As far as staffing- The last few years, Eloy Fire seems like it has been losing almost 50% of its staff every year. The turn over is horrendous. Guys with 10+ years at EFD are jumping ship in huge numbers resulting in a department that went from quite literally “best in the state” to a department with most of the captains and below all having less than 5-6 years of experience total. When you have tenured Captains and Engineers who are leaving to go be probies at other departments, thats a bad sign. I will say though that the bottom of the totem pole guys -for the most part- are amazing human beings. They work hard and get along with eachother great.
The bigger problem with such staffing issues is…instead of holding a cut and dry, legitimate hiring process to fill the holes, they turn to mandatory overtime or will fill the spots by the Chiefs back door hiring “locals” from other towns nearby simply to fulfill an ego driven agenda. Also, Being told to their faces, “Valley Bros” (aka employees who live outside of pinal county) are constantly dogged on and treated like they should be grateful to even exist at EFD.
As far as pay- EFD claims to have a pay scale with steps, yet there are firefighters with 10+ years on the job still making virtually the same as a new hire probie. Raises are few and far between. Occasionally the fire board (who is in the pocket of the chief) will approve 3% cost of living adjustments, but beyond that good luck. The fire chief must still be under the impression that hourly wages less than a McDonald’s employee at EFD in 2025 are enough to afford a house and live off of, yet most employees at EFD don’t even make enough to afford a house in the community they serve. More than 70% of EFD members have one or more part time jobs outside of EFD. The Chief and AC also refuse to recognize the Local Union and have stonewalled and shut down talks of a CBA since its formation in 2007. Most of our union presidents burn out after a year of being in office due to the lack of support or cooperation from EFD.
Conclusion – so from a former employee… if you chose to apply here, I promise that you will enjoy working with some of the best ground level EMS/Fire personnel in pinal county and the State of Arizona. It might be time for the good ole boys to actually retire and new leadership district wide.. maybe an outside hire? Simply put… use this as a cautionary tale.
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1 Reviews on “Eloy Fire District”
Words from a former long term employee. Don’t let this review fool you…99% of the ground level employees are great. They do their jobs because they love the job and they love the community they serve. However, anything above a Captain and you cannot trust them.
The root if the problem – The Battalion Chiefs, Asst. Chief, and Fire Chief are “good ole’ boys” who are just small town farmers who somehow wound up in charge of a multimillion dollar organization..Promoted with zero proven leadership traits or training. The culture is horrible and extremely toxic from the top because of their “well thats how it’s always been” attitude. There have been many harassment claims against BC’s and others in charge filed by the firefighters, and yet, those good ole boys somehow still have a position of leadership and/or their jobs. The broom that sweeps things under the rug is strong and powerful here. (A quick google search of Eloy Fire will only show some of the bigger problems that managed to get out due to legal proceedings and news agencies doing some digging). There is also zero accountability once you reach a Chief level. Quite literally you can do whatever you want and retain your job, including harassment, covering up injuries, and checking en-route & on scene to calls while still laying in bed. Wild.
As far as staffing- The last few years, Eloy Fire seems like it has been losing almost 50% of its staff every year. The turn over is horrendous. Guys with 10+ years at EFD are jumping ship in huge numbers resulting in a department that went from quite literally “best in the state” to a department with most of the captains and below all having less than 5-6 years of experience total. When you have tenured Captains and Engineers who are leaving to go be probies at other departments, thats a bad sign. I will say though that the bottom of the totem pole guys -for the most part- are amazing human beings. They work hard and get along with eachother great.
The bigger problem with such staffing issues is…instead of holding a cut and dry, legitimate hiring process to fill the holes, they turn to mandatory overtime or will fill the spots by the Chiefs back door hiring “locals” from other towns nearby simply to fulfill an ego driven agenda. Also, Being told to their faces, “Valley Bros” (aka employees who live outside of pinal county) are constantly dogged on and treated like they should be grateful to even exist at EFD.
As far as pay- EFD claims to have a pay scale with steps, yet there are firefighters with 10+ years on the job still making virtually the same as a new hire probie. Raises are few and far between. Occasionally the fire board (who is in the pocket of the chief) will approve 3% cost of living adjustments, but beyond that good luck. The fire chief must still be under the impression that hourly wages less than a McDonald’s employee at EFD in 2025 are enough to afford a house and live off of, yet most employees at EFD don’t even make enough to afford a house in the community they serve. More than 70% of EFD members have one or more part time jobs outside of EFD. The Chief and AC also refuse to recognize the Local Union and have stonewalled and shut down talks of a CBA since its formation in 2007. Most of our union presidents burn out after a year of being in office due to the lack of support or cooperation from EFD.
Conclusion – so from a former employee… if you chose to apply here, I promise that you will enjoy working with some of the best ground level EMS/Fire personnel in pinal county and the State of Arizona. It might be time for the good ole boys to actually retire and new leadership district wide.. maybe an outside hire? Simply put… use this as a cautionary tale.