🚒 TFD Chief Jeff McKinney: Is Tucson's Fire Department Really in Crisis?
Captain of the Tucson Fire Department unveils the shocking reality of public safety and calls for urgent reforms amidst a staffing shortage.
Based on the Buckmaster Show for 2/18/25.
🙊 Notable quotes from the show
Jeff McKinney (Tucson Fire Department Captain)
"The Tucson Fire Department is in crisis."
Context: Discussing Prop 414 and fire department staffing needs
Revealing quote: "We could use 800 firefighters"
Shelly Fishman (Financial Consultant)
"Uncertainty or chaos. Okay. Yeah, either one. There is plenty of that around right now."
Context: Discussing economic instability
Revealing quote: "I don't think there's a good idea for the economy, but it's probably a short-term good idea for the profitability of corporations"
Hank Amos (Tucson Realty and Trust CEO)
"We're not a sanctuary city, but we practice sanctuary policies."
Context: Discussing Tucson's urban development and immigration
Revealing quote: "The budget's a little bit over $2 billion. It wasn't that long ago that was $1 billion."
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
Tucson is grappling with serious challenges, from 🚒 firefighters struggling to respond to emergencies quickly to 💰 economic uncertainty looming over families. Influential voices from the Buckmaster Show dissect how ⚖️ mismanagement and corporate greed are impacting the city's safety and stability, all while the community's needs take a back seat to 🏛️ political maneuvering.
🗝️ Takeaways
🚒 Crisis alert: The Tucson Fire Department faces staffing shortages and increased emergency response times.
💰 Economic instability looms as corporate profits soar, leaving the working class struggling.
🏘️ Sanctuary policies in Tucson reveal a troubling disconnect between promises and realities.
🔍 Transparency in budgeting could reveal mismanagement hiding behind tax proposals.
📈 Community engagement is crucial for addressing the root causes of societal issues.
Tucson's Pulse: A Deep Dive into the February 18th Buckmaster Show
On a crisp Tuesday in February 2025, the venerable Bill Buckmaster once again took to the airwaves, weaving a tapestry of local insights that cut through the noise of mainstream media. Broadcasting from the Green Thing Zocalo Village Studio, Buckmaster's radio show continued its 15-year tradition of bringing nuanced, unfiltered conversations to the heart of Tucson. This edition featured a lineup of local luminaries who pulled back the curtain on the city's economic, social, and political landscapes – each guest offering a unique perspective on the challenges facing our community.
🚒 Jeff McKinney: Firefighting Beyond the Flames of Bureaucracy
Hold up. Another tax? Another "solution" that bleeds working-class pockets dry? Captain Jeff McKinney of the Tucson Fire Department rolled out Proposition 414 like a fire hose of bureaucratic desperation – and we're not buying the water.
Let's break down the burning (pun absolutely intended) details:
Response times have catastrophically crawled from 5 minutes in 2008 to nearly 9 minutes today
Call volumes have metastasized from 60,000 to 105,000 annually
Systemic urban neglect is the real four-alarm fire
McKinney's narrative sounds like a municipal sob story: "The Tucson Fire Department is in crisis." His most terrifying statistic? After 3,000 calls a year, a responding unit has about a 25% chance of being unavailable. Translation: When capitalism's infrastructure crumbles, your emergency becomes a game of municipal roulette.
But here's where we call bullshit.
While McKinney pleads for an additional half-cent sales tax – ostensibly to save lives – we see another classic move in the "squeeze the proletariat" playbook. A 9% sales tax? Welcome to the economic bloodletting, Tucson residents.
Internal monologue whispers:
Who really pays for municipal "solutions"? Not the corporate landlords. Not the real estate moguls. Just everyday working folks trying to survive.
A city with a $2 billion budget can't find funds for firefighters?
Sounds like another shell game of municipal mismanagement.
A tax to spend $20 million on a police airplane?
McKinney claims, "We could use 800 firefighters," but we're asking: Where did the current budget go? Why are working-class Tucsonans being asked to patch holes in a clearly mismanaged system
Progressive Prescription:
Audit the current budget
Reallocate existing funds
Demand transparency before demanding more money from struggling residents
The real emergency isn't response times. It's a system that consistently asks those with the least to give even more.
Fire department in crisis? More like a city management dumpster fire.
Community Challenge: Show us the budget forensics before you show us the tax bill.
💰 Shelly Fishman: Economic Prophecies from the Capitalist Frontlines
Financial consultant Shelly Fishman arrived with an economic forecast that was equal parts fascinating and terrifying. His commentary read like a dystopian novel written in economic jargon.
Economic Highlights that Scream "Systemic Instability":
Potential recession with historical precedent in Republican administrations
Mortgage crisis exacerbated by climate change
Layoffs and worker displacement threatening core industries
Fishman's most sardonic moment came when discussing economic uncertainty: "Uncertainty or chaos. Either one. There is plenty of that around right now."
His commentary on corporate tax cuts was particularly cutting: "I don't think there's a good idea for the economy, but it's probably a short-term good idea for the profitability of corporations."
Climate change isn't just an environmental issue – it's now a real estate and insurance nightmare. Fishman highlighted how insurance companies are backing out of high-risk areas, leaving homeowners in a precarious position.
Progressive insight: Capitalism continues to cannibalize itself, with working-class people bearing the brunt of systemic failures.
🏘️ Hank Amos: The Real Estate of Denial
When Hank Amos, CEO of Tucson Realty and Trust, opened his mouth about our city's "sanctuary" policies, the cognitive dissonance was so thick you could spread it on toast.
Internal monologue sizzles: While Amos waxes nostalgic about Tucson's "direction," real human lives are being systematically dismantled. Just hours before this interview, a Venezuelan mother was torn from her children after a traffic stop – deported 2,000 miles away, leaving two children behind in Tucson.
Amos's most revealing quote? "We're not a sanctuary city, but we practice sanctuary policies."
Translation: We'll performatively gesture at humanity while simultaneously enabling systemic violence.
Casa Alitas migrant shelter? Closed. Families? Destroyed. But hey, at least downtown has aesthetic concerns.
His critique of the city's budget reveals a capitalist hellscape of misplaced priorities:
$2 billion budget
Sanctuary-adjacent policies consuming resources
Free bus rides
Meanwhile, mothers are being handcuffed in front of their children, deported for driving too slowly.
Tucson's leadership isn't just failing. It's performing a masterclass in municipal malpractice.
Amos warns we're becoming "Portland 2.0" – a dog whistle so shrill it could shatter progressive illusions. But the real transformation? We're accelerating toward a border-industrial complex that commodifies human suffering.
Progressive Reality Check:
Budgets are moral documents
Our current ledger reads like a war crime
Sanctuary is more than a bureaucratic performance
Community Challenge: When will our city leaders recognize that humanity isn't a line item?
Show Wrap-Up: Tucson at the Crossroads
What emerges from this episode is a portrait of a city wrestling with fundamental challenges – public safety, economic stability, urban development, and civic governance. Each guest, in their own way, revealed the precarious dance between institutional inertia and potential transformation.
Your Turn, Tucsonans!
We want to hear from you. Drop a comment below and answer:
How do you see Proposition 414 impacting our community?
What solutions do you envision for Tucson's downtown revitalization?
Are we truly addressing the root causes of our economic and social challenges?
The conversation doesn't end here – it's just beginning.
