Rural Metro Fire/Ambulance filing for Bankruptcy! (Scottsdale, Chandler: insurance, home)

[jimj]

Hopefully this will lead to their eventual removal and a more professional service or <gasp> an actual muni fire department taking over.

(Reuters) - Ambulance operator Rural/Metro Corp, owned by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with the aim of cutting its debts after it missed an interest payment in July, according to court filings.

The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company also intends to renegotiate unprofitable contracts and free up capital for investments through the bankruptcy process, according to the filings.

[Goober13]

All of this privatization of industries that should be municipal has caused the collapse of the US. They suck up all the revenues and then bail. Freeing up capital to invest. What a scam!

Yes a municipal fire department IMO would be a better deal, but don't hold your breath on it, particularly in this state.

[Pink Jazz]

Note that a new Queen Creek County Island Fire District has been formed, where the county islands within the Queen Creek planning area (including the unincorporated community of Chandler Heights) will now be served by the Town of Queen Creek municipal fire department instead of Rural Metro. This follows Chandler and Gilbert creating fire districts to serve county islands within their planning areas.

[jimj]

Lucky them! Hopefully we'll be able to go back to being serviced by Surprise FD soon, at least they show up with the correct amount of firefighters and equipment.

[Jukesgrrl]

Originally Posted by goober13

all of this privatization of industries that should be municipal has caused the collapse of the us. They suck up all the revenues and then bail. Freeing up capital to invest. What a scam!

Yes a municipal fire department imo would be a better deal, but don't hold your breath on it, particularly in this state.

^^^ that.

[cjs123]

No doubt payments due are still expected during this time of 'reorganization', right?

[jimj]

What sealed the deal in my mind is seeing a neighbors home burn to the ground a couple of months ago. We're a whole 2 miles from the Rural Metro firehouse, the thing is there's only 1 truck so they always have to call for assistance and the next R.M. truck is about 15 minutes away.
Surprise FD is closer but I truly believe R.M. does everything it can do to NOT call on mutual assistance.
I come from a place that has volunteer firefighters that ALWAYS showed up with 2+ trucks not to mention you were quite well aware that you may be on your own for a few while they got there.
That was fine since A.We didn't have to pay 'em every year B.They volunteered their time C.They always did a very professional job.

[CheyDee]

Originally Posted by jimj

I come from a place that has volunteer firefighters that ALWAYS showed up with 2+ trucks not to mention you were quite well aware that you may be on your own for a few while they got there. That was fine since A.We didn't have to pay 'em every year B.They volunteered their time C.They always did a very professional job.

I also come from a place which only had volunteer firefighters, but they did receive money every year - not counting whatever they raised in donations. Our yearly property tax bill included fees specifically for the fire district and separate fees for the volunteer ambulance district. The F.D. also received an annual per residence kick-back from insurance companies. IMO, they were worth every penny.

[johnp292]

Certainly interesting to see Rural Metro's reputation is no better here than it is on the east coast, where they only do EMS AFAIK. Emergency services simply should not be privatized.