South Metro Fire Rescue says no changes to emergency service expected

Letter creates confusion

BY ELLIS ARNOLD ERANOLD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Residents in the south Denver metro area may have felt confused when they received a letter from their re ghting agency about an “amended service plan.” e letter from South Metro Fire Rescue contained legal language and pointed to upcoming public meetings of county leaders who would vote to approve or deny the proposed changes. e proposed amendment is “just recognizing that we might be o ering the same services, but over the past 55 years, the volume, the expertise, the types of incidents have all evolved,” said Dell’Orfano, the agency’s chief government a airs o cer.

But residents shouldn’t expect any changes to the services they receive when they call 911 in an emergency, according to Mike Dell’Orfano, a South Metro Fire o cial.

It also aims to “take a new snapshot at what’s in our re district: the hazards, the number of cities, the population, all that,” said Dell’Orfano, who described the proposed change as something that occurs “in the background” from an administrative and legal perspec- tive.

A lot has changed for South Metro Fire Rescue in ve decades. e agency’s original service plan dates back to 1967, when the organization was known as Parker Fire Protection District. e old agency served about 2,000 residents over 105 square miles in portions of Arapahoe and Douglas counties.

Now, South Metro Fire Rescue covers 560,000 people over 285 square miles, stretching over much of the south Denver metro area after many re protection agencies combined over the years to form today’s agency.

It now covers many cities and towns, including Bow Mar, Castle Pines, Centennial, Cherry Hills Village, Columbine Valley, Foxeld, Greenwood Village, Littleton, Lone Tree and Parker, along with nearby unincorporated portions of Arapahoe, Je erson, and Douglas counties. “Unincorporated” means an area doesn’t sit within a city or town.

Since the agency’s start decades ago, its original service plan was amended a couple times to account for the ability to take on debt and to make sure all its services were re ected, Dell’Orfano said. ose amendments occurred in 1983 and 1996.