Guarantee your safety: Annex with NWFD Today
Do you live in the Camino de Mañana, Teal Blue or Tangerine-Moore neighborhoods? As you know, Northwest Fire attempted to recently annex these neighborhoods in order to provide permanent, dedicated Fire/EMS services but fell just short of the majority needed to complete the petition drive.
You and your neighbors do still have some alternatives available to secure services. Review the maps noted below to view the options that may apply to your specific property or neighborhood.
- If you are directly adjacent to our District, you may complete an affidavit to have your property annexed into the Northwest Fire District. (Examples seen on the Tangerine-Moore and Camino de Mañana maps)
- If you are adjacent to Golder Ranch or Mountain Vista Fire Districts, please contact them to review their processes and ability to annex your property. (GRFD (520) 825-9001 or MVFD (520) 575-4087
- If you are not adjacent to a fire district, you can work within your neighborhoods to either form smaller petition drives (Examples are the upcoming Camino de Oeste II and the Blue Bonnet Annexations seen in yellow on the North Camino de Mañana and the South Camino de Mañana maps)
Or you may sequence annexations in cooperation with neighbors who are adjacent to a fire district boundary in order to create a contiguous addition (see the lighter green parcels shown in the North Camino de Mañana and South Camino de Mañana maps)
If you can’t find the information you’re looking for or would like to request a blank affidavit for annexation, please call or email Carla Reece at 520-887-1010, ext. 2916 creece@northwestfire.org.
On this page you will find information about:
- North Camino de Mañana map
- South Camino de Mañana map
- Tangerine-Moore map
- Teal Blue Trail map
- Benefits of annexation
- Answers to your frequently asked questions
- Latest Annexation News
- Safety: Annexation into the Northwest Fire District is about protecting the safety of your family and home.
- Guaranteed fire service from a station just minutes away
- Timely ambulance service – in a medical emergency every second counts. Don’t gamble on your family’s safety
- Financial Savings & Value: Financial and healthcare experts expect residents’ annexation into the NWFD to be cheaper than not annexing for citizens like you. Here’s how you’ll save:
- Lower premiums for property insurance
- Ability to sell your home or land – the housing market is already tough enough. Why make it tougher by trying to sell a house with no dedicated fire service, which means buyers may not be able to obtain a mortgage or homeowners insurance
- Ability to deduct fire district taxes from your income taxes
- Discounts for fire sprinklers
- Equity and stability in fire provider:
- Everyone pays for NWFD services in an equitable manner – with subscription-bases services, only those who pay are subsidizing the cost of everyone’s fire coverage.
- Permanent fire coverage
- Ability to vote for Fire Board members and have a say in decisions
Isn’t your family’s safety and fire protection for your property worth the increase in your property taxes, which is estimated to be between $300 and $500 per year?
Frequently Asked Questions
We know that you may have some questions about the annexation. Please click on the link below to open a PDF of the frequently asked questions document.
Frequently Asked Questions Document
Mountain Vista Fire District Board to discontinue service to possible annex areas
CREATED Aug. 3, 2011
Web Producer: Mary Coleman
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - The Mountain Vista Fire District Board has voted to discontinue service to areas that the Northwest Fire District is attempting to annex
At the Mountain Vista Fire District Board meeting on Aug. 1, the fire district board voted to discontinue service to the areas that Northwest Fire District is trying to annex.
These changes will be effective as of Oct. 1. These areas are in Northwest Pima County and are known as the Teal Blue Trail/Moore, Camino De Manana III, and the Tangerine /Moore annexations.
The Mountain Vista Fire District will be billing for fire service responses into these annexation areas as well as billing for services that began on May 1.
Mountain Vista Fire District has no fire station proximate to the these areas to facilitate an adequate response time and supports the Northwest Fire District annexation efforts, and has no intention of trying to serve these areas in the event that the Northwest Fire District's annexation attempts fail.
Some Northwest neighborhoods may lose fire coverage
CREATED Aug. 5, 2011
Reporter: Jessica Chapin
TUCSON (KGUN9- TV) - When calling 9-1-1, most people expect emergency help to come quickly, but for three Northwest side neighborhoods, that may soon change.
The affected areas include Teal Blue Trail and Moore, Camino de Manana, and Tangerine and Moore. Residents currently have the option to subscribe to Rural Metro Fire District's service, contracted through Mountain Vista. However, less than 15 percent of the residents subscribe, so Rural Metro is pulling out for financial reasons, hoping the area will agree to annex into the Northwest Fire District which is closer in location.
Residents like Tracy Corbett see the reasoning. She currently subscribes to fire service.
"we live in the middle of the desert, we have a small child," she said, "look around, look at where we live, we're in the middle of nowhere. So if there was a fire to come our way then we need someone to come."
She went door to door collecting signatures for the required petition to annex, trying to convince her neighbors that paying property tax will be worth it. If they don't have more than 50 percent of the property value-holder's signatures by October first, they could be left out when it comes to emergencies.
"it's heart-wrenching. We're here to serve and for us to look at areas that choose not to be served," said Northwest Fire Chief Jeff Piechura, "It's befuddling, it's heart-wrenching and it just defies common logic as to why someone would not want to have close by emergency medical services and fire services."
Piechura says if they don't get the annexation and a resident calls 9-1-1, the dispatcher would have to contact other agencies to find out who is in the area and available before sending a crew. That could cost time and lives.
But, several residents feel annexation will cost too much money.
"Eighty-five percent of the folks here that have chosen not to pay anything for fire protection," said Piechura, so for them it's a one-hundred percent increase in cost."
According to Northwest Fire, the increase in property tax would be about $500 a year for someone with a $200 thousand house.
If the annexation fails and Northwest Fire is called to a house fire, it could range from $15-$20 thousand. It's a service fee most insurance companies won't pay.
Piechura says he still has faith they can get the signatures they need before the October deadline.
"I would ask them to stay vigilant in their task of trying to inform as well as maybe direct those folks who are non-believers or on the fence or have no concept on what this is about to give us a call," he said to those who would like annexation, "and we'll come out and we'll hand them all the information."
Northwest Fire same budget for 4th straight year
CREATED Jul. 13, 2011
Web Producer: David Rush
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - For the fourth straight year, the Northwest Fire District budget will remain the same. The governing board voted unanimously Tuesday night to hold the line on the district's budget.
According to the district, Northwest Fire has maintained services within its boundaries on a $25.4 million dollar tax levy since July 2007. Fire Chief Jeff Piechura said it has been a challenge, but he's proud of the district's determination.
"Costs go up for us, just as they do for families, schools and businesses," says Piechura. "But the fire board and employees have worked hard to increase efficiency and find innovative ways to save money."
While the fire distric is holding to the same operating budget, residents could still see their actual tax amount for fire and emergency services go up or down.
"An individual's taxes for fire service are tied to the value of his or her property," said Piechura. " If your property value goes up, you could be paying a little more, if your property value decreases, you could be paying less."