Somerton Cocopah Fire Department marks 25 years of joint service

A quarter-century after Somerton and the Cocopah Indian Tribe created a single fire department, the joint agency has become one of Yuma County’s clearest examples of cross-jurisdiction public safety. What began with six firefighters now serves both the City of Somerton and the Cocopah Reservation, and Chief Javier Hernandez is marking the anniversary as a test of a partnership the tribe has described as the first of its kind in the United States.

The Somerton Cocopah Fire Department was formed through an intergovernmental agreement between the tribe and the city. Its service area stretches across the Cocopah Reservation, which lies in Yuma County along the Colorado River about 13 miles south of Yuma and 15 miles north of San Luis, Mexico. The reservation is made up of three noncontiguous bodies of land, the North, West and East reservations, a geography that makes a shared fire service more than an administrative arrangement. It is the structure that connects emergency coverage across city and tribal lands that do not fit neatly into one boundary.

That structure has become part of the region’s public-safety identity. Cocopah officials said the department started with just six firefighters and grew into a lasting joint service, a sign that the merger did more than combine two logos on a building. In 2021, the tribe highlighted that history in videos featuring SCFD Chief Paul DeAnda, Somerton Mayor Gerardo Anaya and Cocopah Chairwoman Sherry Cordova. Cocopah Vice-Chairwoman Rosa J. Long and DeAnda also discussed the department’s origins during a July 2021 broadcast on Z93 FM’s Today in Yuma Show, reinforcing how closely the partnership has been tied to both tribal leadership and city government.

The department’s anniversary also carries solemn reminders of sacrifice. On Sept. 11, 2014, DeAnda said the day was a serious reminder of firefighters’ commitment to the people they serve, and Somerton/Cocopah firefighters lowered the flag to half-staff in remembrance of the 343 firefighters who died in the line of duty on 9/11. The tribe later honored Darrell “Ricky” Thomas as the first and only Somerton Cocopah Fire Department firefighter to die in the line of duty.

For residents in Somerton and on Cocopah land, the 25-year mark is less a ceremonial milestone than a measure of whether shared governance can deliver steady service across overlapping communities. The department’s longevity suggests that, in this corner of Yuma County, the answer has been yes.