Long before college basketball fans giddily proclaimed its \u201cmadness,\u201d Shakespeare warned of the dangers this month holds.<\/p>\n
Finding a middle ground between the two extremes, Scottsdale is quietly celebrating \u201cthe rides of March.\u201d<\/p>\n
On this day some 2,070 years ago, after Roman senators sank their daggers in him, Julius Caesar certainly could have used what Scottsdale residents and visitors enjoy: a swift ambulance ride.<\/p>\n
While Scottsdale politicians may privately trade allegations of \u201cback stabbing,\u201d two years ago this March, Scottsdale City Council came together to fuel an ambitious plan by Scottsdale Fire Chief Shannon.<\/p>\n
His ask, if this was a modern-day interpretation of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cJulius Caesar\u201d post-assisnation monologue:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFriends, citizens, councilmen and -women, lend me your confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Accepting the invitation for a leap of faith, the local \u201csenate\u201d approved and bankrolled Shannon\u2019s ambitious plan to transition from a private ambulance system to one operated by the Scottsdale Fire Department.<\/p>\n
\u201cPhase One\u201d of a three-year plan began nine months later.<\/p>\n
So how are things going?<\/p>\n
On the financial end, \u201cWe are pretty much on track with projections,\u201d Shannon told the Progress last week.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to Scottsdale Fire Department Chief Tom Shannon, the first phase of SFD\u2019s new ambulance service is \u201con track.\u201d<\/p>\n
(File photo)<\/p>\n
Of utmost importance, he stressed as the department is in the early phases of the second phase of \u201cOperation Ambulance Rollout,\u201d the system is running even better than expected.<\/p>\n
He points to what everyone who dials 911 is anxious about: response time.<\/p>\n
The state-issued \u201cCertification of Necessity\u201d demanded specific arrival times for medical 911 calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re beating the response time (requirements) \u2013 by far,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat tells me we have the right number of resources for the call volume.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his March 2024 speeches to City Council, Shannon praised the private ambulance company that served Scottsdale for 20 years \u2013 but his plan also buries them.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaricopa Ambulance will sequentially phase out \u2026 as the city phases in our program,\u201d the City Council presentation explained.<\/p>\n
The first year of running its own ambulance service would cost the city about $900,000, Shannon told then-Mayor David Ortega and six City Council members.<\/p>\n
After initial start up costs, the program could be \u201crevenue neutral” \u2013 or even make a small profit \u2013 by year four, he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two Ides of Marches later, Shannon\u2019s take:<\/p>\n
\u201cOur program is on par with expectations and our forecasting is accurate for the coming phase.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
March 2024<\/p>\n
Brian Joseph, one of Shannon\u2019s battalion chiefs, was part of the 2024 presentation to City Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at gross revenue,\u201d Joseph said, we’re looking at approximately $8.2 million \u2026 for Phase 1.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three phases don\u2019t quite align with calendar years, as the SFD\u2019s ambulance phases run December-November.<\/p>\n
Two years after Joseph\u2019s presentation, it looks like the actual billing comfortably topped it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur gross charges in 2025 were just under $10 million,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
That doesn\u2019t mean the city will receive the full amount, he noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s contractual allowances, write offs and negotiations between private payers and things like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to the March 2024 presentation, a consultant \u201cestimated our (billing) recovery somewhere between 63 and 70%.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of September 2025, SFD billed just under $4.8 million, which was knocked down to just under $3 million by contractual allowances.<\/p>\n
Of that, $1.8 million has been paid \u2013 though Shannon noted there can be long lag times from billing to payment.<\/p>\n
One major item that was not included in the March 2024 presentation:<\/p>\n
Fire Station 601 Ambulance Annex Expansion.<\/p>\n
According to the city\u2019s project website:<\/p>\n
\u201cScottsdale Fire Department is expanding services in South Scottsdale to meet the growing demand for high-quality emergency medical care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo support the recently launched city-operated ambulance program an ambulance annex will be built adjacent to existing Fire Station 601 at 1901 N. Miller Road.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cost: $9.5 million.<\/p>\n
Shannon provided more context: \u201cWe’re going to build \u2013 basically \u2013 a dormitory for the ambulance and a low acuity unit. It’s basically two bays. It’s actually a three-bay, but one of them is going to house a pickup truck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why is this needed?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe frankly just don’t have the space at the station.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for construction time, \u201cThey keep telling me eight to 10 months. I think they’re being a little bit optimistic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal was the end of this calendar year to match the third and final phase implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking at the three-phase March 2024 projections, Shannon said the first two are very close.<\/p>\n
Phase 1, listed as \u201cone time expenses,\u201d totaled $4.4 million, dominated by $1.6 million for ambulances. Related vehicles, equipment, personnel and overtime for fire academy training also factor in on the start-up costs.<\/p>\n
The actual Phase 1 total was $1.1 million lower, according to Shannon.<\/p>\n
The Phase 2 total of $3.5 million, including another $2.3 million for ambulances, is now projected to be $3.4 million.<\/p>\n
But, where Phase 3 was projected to total $3.6 million, the new bottom line for the final rollout is $12.75 million \u2013 due to the aforementioned ambulance annex.<\/p>\n
The Scottsdale Fire Department is nearing the halfway point of the three-year plan, which should be fully implemented by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have nine or 10 ambulances in place \u2013 depending on demand,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
Unlike the Waymos zipping around Scottsdale, those ambulances won\u2019t be driving themselves.<\/p>\n
As for staffing, SFD is adding \u201c20 to 21 firefighters per phase,\u201d Shannon said, \u201chalf of which are paramedics, half of which are basic life support personnel.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are all firefighters.\u201d<\/p>\n
If a Scottsdale Fire Department ambulance answers your call, it won\u2019t be a \u201cnewbie\u201d coming to get you, Shannon pledged.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe folks that are on the ambulance must have been in their position for at least a year, so we don’t put the newest of the new on ambulances,\u201d Shannon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ll hire in August for Phase 3, but those Phase 3 people won’t see an ambulance for a year, because they have to rotate through the fire station and learn how to be a firefighter before they go on to the ambulance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The six SFD ambulances currently in place are running fast and frequently.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are right at about 18,000 or 20,000 transports a year,\u201d Shannon said \u2013 meaning calls that result in someone being taken to a hospital.<\/p>\n
And, though he stressed he is not knocking private ambulance companies, Shannon guarantees trained, experienced professionals are responding to SFD ambulance calls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink of it as the ER coming to your house.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long before college basketball fans giddily proclaimed its \u201cmadness,\u201d Shakespeare warned of the dangers this month holds. Finding…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":657066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,278435,5310,278436,167464,1589,46683,278437,89130,137279,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-657065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-brian-joseph","tag-city-council","tag-david-ortega","tag-julius-caesar","tag-phoenix","tag-scottsdale-city-council","tag-scottsdale-fire-chief","tag-scottsdale-fire-department","tag-shannon","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116232420757276693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}