Somerton marks 25 years of shared fire and medical services

A quarter-century after Somerton and the Cocopah Indian Tribe built a shared fire department, the partnership’s value is still measured in the engines, ambulances and trained responders that stay on call across 89 square miles. City and tribal leaders marked the milestone on June 12 with a ceremony honoring the Intergovernmental Agreement that created the Somerton-Cocopah Fire Department in 2001.

The agreement is more than a ceremonial marker. The Cocopah Indian Tribe says it was the first partnership of its kind in the United States between a federally recognized Native American tribe and a local municipality, built around a shared mission of protecting lives and property. For Somerton and the Cocopah communities, that has meant a single public-safety structure crossing jurisdictional lines, with fire suppression and emergency medical service tied together in daily operations.

Fire Chief Paul DeAnda has long described the arrangement as a practical answer to two different needs. Somerton’s tax base alone could not support a fully paid fire department, while the Cocopah Tribe needed a central station to serve the East Reservation, West Reservation, tribal business enterprises and wildland areas along the Colorado River. The combined department added more full-time firefighters and helped maintain ambulance coverage when units are already out on transports, a difference that matters in South County when minutes can decide the outcome of a fire, crash or medical emergency.

DeAnda, who had 34 years in fire service and nearly 28 years as chief when he retired in 2022, saw the department grow from a volunteer operation into a state-certified agency serving both Somerton and the Cocopah communities. That growth has turned the agreement into part of the area’s basic emergency infrastructure, not just a symbol of cooperation. The tribe’s anniversary materials also highlighted Vice-Chairwoman Rosa J. Long, Mayor Gerardo Anaya and Chairwoman Sherry Cordova in the partnership’s history.

Somerton council also made a proclamation connected to the celebration, underscoring how deeply the department is woven into city life. As the anniversary was marked, the message from both governments was the same: the work is ongoing, and the shared system that keeps help moving across the city and reservation remains essential to daily safety in Yuma County.