Emergency Operations
About Emergency Operations
Emergency Operations provides emergency response services to over 430,000 residents who live in the communities of Alta, Brighton, Copperton, Cottonwood Heights, Eagle Mountain, Emigration Canyon, Herriman, Holladay, Kearns, Magna, Midvale, Millcreek, Riverton, unincorporated Salt Lake County, Taylorsville, and White City. The operations response area covers over 550 square miles. Firefighters, divided into three operational battalions, respond from 24 fire stations, and staff 24 heavy fire apparatus and 14 ambulances.
Our fire service members provide the full range of emergency response services which include fire suppression and rescue, basic (Emergency Medical Technicians/EMT) and advanced life support (Paramedics), ambulance transport, technical and specialized rescue services, hazardous materials response, water rescue and wildland fire response. Operations members responded on 31,226 incidents in 2020, representing a ten percent increase over 2019.
Division Leaders
Assistant Chief of Emergency Services
Stephen Higgs
Operations Chief
Dustin Dern
Organizational Structure
FY20/21 Accomplishments
- Maintained minimum daily staffing of 121 on-duty while dealing with COVID impacts (108 full-time Firefighters on-duty supplemented by thirteen part-time)
- Improved retention and stability of managing the part-time program (Outcome 6-A 1-O)
- Implemented a new Versaterm CAD with drop-boarder Automatic Vehicle Location response
- Supported two Urban Search & Rescue deployments (Louisiana & Oregon)
- Supported three EMAC deployments (California & Oregon)
- Improved ISO rating from Class 3 to Class 2
- Completed first year review of Fitness Standard
- Standard of Cover (SOC) Work Group has completed the first working draft of the document
- Continued development of Operational Guidelines/Procedures (Outcome 1-T)
- Developed and delivered Captain Boot Camp with 56 participants
- Participated in the Captain promotional process
- Participated in the new hire planning and process
FY21/22 Action Items
- Continue developing the Standard of Cover and data analytics process
- Determine the right staffing and configuration of resources to effectively solve the problems identified in the SOC. This will be an ongoing process
- Improve data collection to support trend analysis for stated strategic outcomes through the Intterra project, CAD modifications and in support of the Standard of Cover process
- Continue development of Standard Operational Guidelines and Minimum Operational Performance Standards
- Begin work on reviewing and establishing regional fire and medical protocols for the Salt Lake Valley agencies to perform critical assignments in a consistent and effective manner
