About Unified Fire Authority
Unified Fire Authority (UFA) is Utah’s largest fire agency with 695 employees serving an estimated 473,921 residents in 15 municipalities and unincorporated Salt Lake County. The UFA provides service to all unincorporated areas of Salt Lake County and one municipality (Eagle Mountain) is located in Utah County. Of the 695 employees; 493 are full-time sworn firefighters, 58 are full-time civilian, 90 are “Emergency Medical Service (EMS) Only” part-time ambulance Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) and Paramedics, 40 are seasonal wildland firefighters, and the remaining 14 are part-time civilian employees. An additional 8 full-time firefighters are being proposed to add an additional full-time ambulance in FY24/25.
The UFA is a full-service fire agency, providing fire suppression, advanced life support, first response and transport, rescue, hazardous materials, bomb response, fire investigation, code enforcement, hazardous materials inspections, as well as support for Salt Lake County Emergency Management. UFA is the sponsoring agency of Utah Task Force 1, one of 28 FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Teams in the nation, provides Fire Management services for Camp Williams and emergency response for the Utah Data Center.
UFA operates as an independent fire authority under the direction of a 17-member Board of Directors. Each of the municipalities appoints one elected official from their municipality to serve on the UFA Board of Directors with the exception of Salt Lake County who can appoint two board members. The UFA Command Staff is comprised of the Fire Chief/CEO, Chief Legal Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Assistant Chief of Administration and Planning, Assistant Chief of Emergency Services, Assistant Chief of Support Services, Communications Director, Human Resources Director, Fire Marshal, and the Operations Chief.
In 2023, UFA responded to 35,784 emergency incidents with 62,064 unit responses from 25 fire stations. UFA staffs seventeen engine companies, ten ladder companies, ten 24-hour ambulance crews, three peak-load ambulance crews, and three Battalion Chiefs every day. All crews have the training and equipment to mitigate the problems in their area; however, two fire stations specialize in hazardous materials, two in heavy rescue, four in water rescue, and one serves as the wildland duty officer with the authority to call for larger state assets, such as initial attack aircraft on wildland fires.
In 2023, Fire Prevention inspected 8,406 occupancies; Special Enforcement investigated 198 fires and made 12 arrests, and Information Outreach supported 210 community events and 220 fire station tours.
Learn more about the History of UFA
