“This is a tale of white horses and green fire trucks. It is the story of the very earliest days of what is now the Rural Metro Corporation, in 1947 called the Rural Fire Department.” - Louis A. Witzeman Jr.
The Rural Metro Corporation is celebrating 70 years of fire service. Originally conceived by a 22-year-old journalist working for the Arizona Times, the seed was planted when he watched his neighbors’ home rendered to ash by a fire one night and the fire department never responded. For insurance reasons, city fire departments could not leave the city and, you guessed it, the home was outside the city limits.
So began Lou’s “white horse” cause--namely the idea that everyone needs a “white horse” to save the day. Driven by this cause and a desire to leave the world just a trifle better than he found it, Lou worked to revolutionize the fire service industry with the first privately owned fire department.
“It takes hard work, brains and luck,” is what Lou told anyone who asked what it took to make it in the controversial world of privately operated fire service. Doing “the government’s” sacred duty did not rest well among many.
“It takes hard work”— A single minded dedication. Hours, days, years of driven work to fully recognize the concept of privately managed fire protection.
“It takes…brains”— Not genius status brains, but enough intelligence to challenge and interpret the minds of your competition and detractors.
“It takes…luck”— There are many things beyond your control that can hurt or help your cause. “I believe the old truism that you make the most of your own good luck with hard work and most bad luck comes from lack of attention, but the factor of luck remains and it can bless you or it can put you in the grave.” –Lou Witzeman
On February 2, 1948, Rural Fire Protection went into service on a shoestring budget, one truck, a 30 x 30 station fully furnished with used goods and eager anticipation. Two weeks later, their first call defied the law of averages with not one fire, but two at the same time.
By 1950, Rural Fire Protection was operating in the then town of Scottsdale, a budding city outside of Phoenix with a population of just over 2,000. In April, a massive fire erupted in the Arizona Crafts Center and Rural Fire Protection charged in to help. This event cemented their future as the first fire department for Scottsdale, Arizona. More than 50 years later (2003), Rural Fire protection bowed out, allowing the City Of Scottsdale to raise its own fire department to service nearly 200,000 citizens.
During the 50 years that Rural Fire Protection was servicing Scottsdale, it acquired Metropolitan Fire in 1959, making it Rural/Metro Fire Department. In the same fashion, Rural/Metro expanded to Pima County replacing Catalina Fire Department in 1962, and then to Yuma County replacing the Tri-State Fire Department in 1971. In 1976, Rural/Metro Fire Department made a historic move outside of Arizona, purchasing Knoxville Fire Department and taking Rural/Metro Fire to the national stage. Founder Lou Witzeman even sat for an interview on 60 Minutes (1968) and later Good Morning America (2000).
One man, a green fire truck, “hard work, brains and luck.” Seventy years later Rural Metro Fire Department boasts 42 stations, 75 fire apparatus, and more than 950 employees—the nation’s largest privately-owned fire department. Lou’s “white horse” cause has come full circle.
“It takes hard work, luck, brains, guts and a sense of humor.” In his experiment of free enterprise gone wild, Lou found these five things key to growth, creation, acceptance, and su