Our History:
The Congress Fire District was established on January 2, 1968, by Order of the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors. We are located an hour north of Phoenix, Arizona, in the unincorporated community of Congress. When established, the district was only two square miles; Carl Tumlinson was the first elected Chief and Terry Casey was elected as Secretary-Treasurer. Ten other members of the community volunteered making a total membership of 12.
There have been four annexations since the district was established and the total area for the district now covers 9 square miles. We are providing fire, rescue and EMS services to not only the district, but we also provide mutual aid to 875 square miles of the surrounding area. The department responds to calls on Highway 93 as far west as milepost 155 at the Bagdad turn-off (Highway 97) and east to meet Wickenburg Fire District. The response on Highway 89 goes east to meet Wickenburg and north to Yarnell. We also cover all the area around and along State Route 62 to the east and State Route 109 to the west as well as State Highway 71 to approximately milepost 95 south to meet Aguila Fire District.
The original fire station was located at 25605 Ghost Town Road, now the site of the Grace Bible Chapel. The property where the current fire station is located was donated to the Fire District in May 1989 and the building was constructed in 1990/1991.
Congress Fire District has a contract with the State Land Department to respond to wildfires as needed. The district will not be left unprotected during these wildfires but any available trucks and manpower will be sent to areas outside our district when possible to do so.
Currently, under the command of Chief Virgil O. Suitor, Jr., who has been the Chief since 2000, we have 6 full time paid firefighters/EMTs, 2 part-time firefighters/EMTs, 11 Reserves, 1 volunteer, 1 part-time secretary/treasurer and 3 elected Board members. The station is now manned 24/7 to better meet the needs of the community.
Call volume continues to increase: 2005 we responded to approximately 400 calls. In 2009, approximately 449; 2010, approximately 495; 2011, approximately 446; 2012, approximately 437; 2013, approximately 506; 2014, approximately 573. Call volume was down slightly in 2015 with approximately 549 calls and in 2016 with approximately 485. In 2017 the call volume went up with, approximately 544 calls and in 2018 with approximately 569 calls. In 2019 the call volume was down at approximately 504 calls.
Our Mission:
The mission of the Congress Fire District is to provide the highest quality of fire, rescue, medical and community services; and to provide those services with skill, integrity, care and compassion.
Fire Danger
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