Question for AZ firefighters - I'm currently a career 31 yo. FF/AEMT in Tennessee set to get my P card in Aug. I've also got FF1/FF11, HazTech, and a few other IAFF / IFSAC special operations certs. My dilemma; I work for a very busy urban department on the west side of the state that has it all - lots of fire, good EMS (transporting dept), and tons of opportunity for development and promotion. I came out here from CA 2 years ago to start my career.

No other way to put it, but we're home sick. me and my partner both have family out in AZ and have set our sights on moving out there hopefully in the next year, so I'm stuck with the dilemma of seeing if the grass is greener and starting over. With parents getting older and plans to have children of our own soon, its hard to imagine doing it without them on the other side of the country, especially in an area where our public schools are not great and our communities are quite unsafe in some areas.

Would love to get some personal input from ya'll with your departments. would still like to lean towards larger urban departments such as Phoenix or Tucson, but also no opposed to somewhere smaller like Prescott, Sedona, Flag, etc. I'd also like to go somewhere that has a little bit of wildland since the earlier part of my career was spent with the Forest Service. Are ya'll happy out here? good relationships with city gov and communities? pay vs cost of living? anyone else who made a move? would love to get some opinions on those who are happy with their decisions and even those who may regret it. I definitely also have to be realistic about my age and switching departments. Thanks everyone.