New fire station annex will boost south Scottsdale response times

If you live in south Scottsdale, good news just came with a hard hat and a shovel.

The city broke ground on a brand-new ambulance annex next to the fire station near Miller and McDowell roads, and this one is all about getting help to you faster. The $9.5 million facility is the latest milestone in Scottsdale's bold move to ditch private ambulance contracts and run its own emergency medical services in-house — a transition that kicked off in 2024 and has been rolling out in phases ever since.

Fire Chief Tom Shannon put it plainly: the service area around Station 618 fields more than 8,000 calls a year. That is a serious workload, and the existing station simply does not have the space to house the paramedics and EMTs needed to handle it. The new annex fixes that.

The facility will include three vehicle bays housing two fire department rescues and a supervisor vehicle, along with a dormitory, kitchen, office space, and medical storage for crews working around the clock. Think of it as a fully self-contained base for the people who show up when things go sideways.

The annex serves a zone covering roughly 37,500 residents and visitors — and when it is finished, those folks will benefit from the kind of seamless, city-coordinated response that a fully integrated system delivers. No handoffs. No middleman. Just Scottsdale firefighters in Scottsdale ambulances, moving fast.

Construction is expected to take eight to ten months, with a target completion by the end of 2026. The full three-phase ambulance rollout, including nine or ten ambulances across the city, is on track to wrap up by the end of 2027.

Sources: ABC15 | East Valley Tribune | Scottsdale Independent | ScottsdaleAZ.gov