EMDR Therapy in Ahwatukee, AZ

When is is opened, the daily staffing at the new Ahwatukee fire station will be six people total, including four on the engine and two on the rescue unit.

Posted Saturday, April 8, 2023 12:48 pm

INDEPENDENT NEWSMEDIA

Ahwatukee will be getting its fourth fire station, and it will be staffed with 24 firefighters who will cover three shifts, city officials said.

Fire Station 74 will be built on the northwest corner of 19th Avenue and Chandler Boulevard. The station is estimated to be roughly 13,000 square feet and include three bays with a fire engine and a medical rescue.

Construction will complete the department's force in the community and reduce response time, Phoenix officials said.

Mayor Kate Gallego, Councilmember Sal DiCiccio and City Manager Jeff Barton secured funding in the 2023-2024 capital budget for Phoenix Fire Station 74, which is expected to cost and estimated $12 million.

“This new fire station is a major step forward for our community," Gallego said.

“When the new facility opens, Ahwatukee will be served by a total of four engine companies, a ladder company and three ambulances – ultimately increasing the capacity of our first responders to save many more lives."

DiCiccio said the station "is a testament to what can be accomplished when government listens to its residents.

"With this new fire station, we will see a tremendous decrease in emergency response times. I'm proud to have helped make this project happen and want to thank the mayor for her partnership in making this fire station a reality."

When the station opens in about two years, the daily staffing will be six people total, according to the city, and that will include four on the engine and two on the rescue.

“The Phoenix Fire Department is grateful for our community leaders’ support,” Phoenix Fire Chief Mike Duran said.

“Phoenix Fire station 74 will be a great addition to Ahwatukee. It allows us to deliver fast, professional fire and medical services, adding another layer of safety and security to our community."

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.

“It was crazy for sure,” the baby's father said, remembering how it all played out.

PHOENIX — A Valley couple welcomed their newborn son this past weekend, but it didn't go as they had planned.

Jenna and Brian Abbey, who also have two other kids, tell 12News they didn't make it to the hospital in time. Their son Ryker was born in a school parking lot.

“It was crazy for sure,” Brian said, remembering how it all played out.

It was late Saturday night when Jenna said she started feeling contractions but wasn't worried. “My first labor was like 26 hours long, the second one was 12 hours, so I was like, we got time," she said.

Then after a few hours, that all changed.

Brian said they raced to their car, knowing they had a 30-minute drive to the hospital. They made it less than a mile away from their home when Jenna told him to pull over. Brian said, "You were like, 'No, he is coming now!'"

In the parking lot of St. John Bosco Catholic School near Chandler Boulevard and 48th Street, the couple prepared for what was coming. "This isn't how it's supposed to be," Jenna said.

With no doctors and no medicine, they were on their one. Jenna said, "I mean, I think at that point I was just running off adrenaline."

After about five minutes in the front seat of their car, they heard the cries of baby Ryker for the very first time. "To go through it without anybody around, I just think that's an amazing testament to what a woman's body can do," Brian said. Both are incredibly thankful the situation didn't go another way.

"We didn't have any complications, thank God," Brian said.

Emergency crews arrived and took Jenna and Ryker to the hospital. Doctors told her Ryker was a little cold from being outside but was okay.

However, the birth did leave some unexpected consequences. The front seat of their family car had to be removed. Brian said he is in talks with insurance companies about getting it repaired.

A small price to pay for bringing in so much joy to the world.

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An Ahwatukee couple has lived peacefully with the wildlife for six years until coyotes became more aggressive in the past month.

PHOENIX — Tuesday night was hockey night and the last thing Samantha Hjelle and Dawn Proefrock expected was a call from their neighbors.

“Our neighbors had called us and had said that there were some coyotes at our back fence and Atticus, our American bulldog, was getting attacked through the fence,” said Hjelle.

The attack left the dog with facial and leg injuries.

Hjelle and Proefrock have lived in their Ahwatukee neighborhood for six years and have enjoyed watching the wildlife from their patio.

“All sorts of birds…bobcats…coyotes,” said the two.

The pair never had a bad encounter until some coyotes became too aggressive in the past month.

Hjelle installed a surveillance camera on the back fence to monitor the pack when they approached the fence above their patio.

Surveillance video from Tuesday missed the attack, but you can see two coyotes approach the fence. The larger coyote is aggressively poking its nose through the fence towards Atticus on the other side.

“Jumped up along the fence here and grabbed the dog and severely injured him last night,” said Hjelle.

Atticus walks around with a plastic cone. He has a bandaged leg and scratch marks on his face. He is expected to make a full recovery.

“What the likely scenario is there is a den sight near that location,” said Darren Julian with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.

Julian thinks this may have been a fight between a dog and a coyote protecting their territories.

“The coyote might be a little worked up thinking there might be another predator that could potentially go after their young or be competition for other food resources within that given territory,” said Julian.

He said the pack may eventually move to another location next year. Julian encourages residents in the area to watch their pets and don’t leave food around.

One tip for driving the coyotes away is to fill a soaker filled with 10 to 20% household ammonia diluted with water and fire it at the coyotes.

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Thrift stores dot the Valley of the Sun. In all corners of town, you'll find tiny gems stuffed with cool, old things looking for a new home.

In Ahwatukee, you’ll find Vintageous (furniture & design), a boutique home decor store spinning old goods into exciting treasures and upcycled furniture. With styles ranging from Midcentury Modern to boho to shabby chic, best friend duo and co-owners Jimmy Maler and Noeleen Sese are embracing their passion for treasure hunting and turning what they find into one-of-a-kind furniture pieces.

Both Maler and Sese have an interior design background and started to grow their hobby into a business as an online store. Once they both realized it was easier for customers to go in person to shop, they decided to open the boutique in 2018.

“We thought, well in this nature, it's so much more fun to see it with your hands, to touch it, to sit on it, to look at it, versus everything you see is online. There's a little bit about the experience and the culture that we are into,” Maler says.

Not only does Vintageous offer a wide range of furniture such as tables, couches, wall art, and more, but they also offer staging, space planning, and interior design.

“We are more about the experience when you walk in," Sese says. She explains that besides finding items for their own houses, customers can take the design ideas they see at the store and translate them for their own spaces.

"Seeing how, when we put [things] together in a venue, it doesn't have to even just be the things you see in our store, but your own personal keepsakes from your family that you can still keep and make them current or relevant in a design setting,” Sese says.

Maler and Sese also mention that it's not just about furniture flipping, but it's about treasure hunting. The duo find pieces that need a little TLC and bring them back to life.

“I think that was a little bit of the rescue part of us not wanting to see something that had a story or something that somebody loved just being disposable if you could take some time and some care and fix it, repair it, finish it," Maler says. "It's about finding something that you're passionate about that aesthetically appeals to you or reminds you of your childhood or maybe some sentimental moment from your family.”

“It's fun putting it together, making it balance. Making it feel like there's a story behind it," says Sese.

Tiffany Acosta

In an era where customers can open the Amazon app and have a chair delivered the next day, or walk out of IKEA with a house full of ready-to-build furniture, Sese and Maler hope to offer items of quality that will last and didn't come out of a box. They want to give customers the ability to choose something that resembles their personality and their style preference that will add passion to the space they want to decorate.

“I think that's why, not just this store, but antique stores or vintage stores or thrift stores in general, connect with that boutique audience versus the Wayfair," Maler says. "This is a different mentality for a lot of people. And I think the younger generation is saying, 'Hey, I'm a little tired of disposable copy-and-paste things. I want something that's memorable, something with character, a story, and some style. So that's catching on, whether it's used clothes or used furniture."

But when you find something at Vintageous that strikes your fancy, it's best to grab it right there and then, Maler says. Everything at the store is first come, first serve, and he mentions that many people come in to see an item and by the next day, it's gone.

“If you really like it, don't hesitate, and if you don't see something you like, just wait a week and it's all different because it changes so fast," he says. "The minute this [table] is gone, who knows what will take its place? It's always changing all the time. I think that keeps people interested."

Vintageous is located at 4611 E. Chandler Blvd. Call 602-463-7570 or visit the store's website.

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A house in Arizona has been plagued by not one, but four adult Speckled Rattlesnakes over the last few months. Snake catcher Marissa Maki, from Rattlesnake Solutions, found the latest deadly trespasser hiding behind an aloe vera plant in the family's front yard.

Bryan Hughes, the owner of Rattlesnake Solutions, told Newsweek that the house's location makes it particularly vulnerable to unwanted visitors.

"For this house, the specific location is the issue. It's not only directly adjacent to the preferable habitat for Speckled Rattlesnakes, but it is on the corner as well," Hughes said. "Many of the neighborhoods in Arizona are built with a long, shared block wall behind them.

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"This can function like a funnel, forcing any snakes that may want to visit the well-watered and shaded properties to enter at the sides. For this reason, homes found at the corners often see far more snake visitors than homes with more interior."

Despite this vulnerable location, it is still unusual to be visited by four different rattlesnakes in a matter of months.

The house is located in Ahwatukee, in Phoenix, Arizona, right against the South Mountain Park and Preserve. Southwestern speckled rattlesnakes are common in this region and are usually found in rocky areas near mountains and hillsides.

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The species varies in color, from white to brown to orange, and has a highly flecked banded pattern that closely resembles the rocky granite found in their natural habitat.

As rattlesnakes go, these are fairly small.

"Adults get to around three feet long," Hughes said. "These were all adults between two and three feet long."

Five other species of rattlesnake are commonly found in the Ahwatukee area, including the Western Diamondback, Arizona's largest species of rattlesnake.

"Rattlesnakes are often found at properties in Arizona, most often in backyards where vegetation, water, and feeding opportunities are present," Hughes previously told Newsweek.

If you live in a rattlesnake-prone area, Rattlesnake Solutions recommends putting up snake fencing and making your yard less desirable to the deadly animals. You can do this by removing leaf litter, keeping foliage well-pruned, and avoiding growing plants right next to your house. Removing food sources, such as bird seed and food waste that might attract rodents, will also stop the snakes from being attracted to your property in the first place.

Do you have an animal or nature story to share with Newsweek? Do you have a question about snakes? Let us know via nature@newsweek.com.