SALT LAKE CITY — With recent high winds, increased temperatures and dry conditions, Utah’s wildfire season is well underway.
Many fire departments not only have to combat fires in their own cities but are called in to help in other areas across the state.
Ogden City Fire Deputy Chief Michael Slater said their preparation starts early.
“They get fatigued. The human body can only do so much for so long, and we emphasize fitness and hydration and nutrition year-round,” Slater said.
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Other fire departments, however, need to help across the country.
Sandy Fire Deputy Chief Mike Bullock said crews were just down in Arizona for 14 days, and he explained how certain protocols are taken to prevent fatigue.
“Fourteen days is the max deployment cycle for those apparatus. Then once they come back, they have a mandatory three-day cooldown,” Bullock said.
Each department said they keep a minimum staffing requirement; however, sometimes during peak wildfire season, overtime is needed.
“If they need to come back in off duty, we'll call them back, pay overtime if we need to, make sure that people need rest or rehab or need to be recycled,” Slater said.
Many fire departments, including Sandy, are on call this weekend.
Rocky Mountain Power is working with various departments to address the need to shut off some customers’ power due to high fire risk.
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“We haven't had any rain, and so it's dry out there,” Slater said. "In the increased temperature — we hit 100 degrees this week — it sucks the moisture out of those fuels, and so they essentially become little tinderbox just waiting to burn."
“We will proactively shut down the power in order to ensure that our equipment doesn't start a fire because of the wind and the possibility for something blowing into the lines or another event that could cause our equipment to spark,” said David Eskelsen, a spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power.
Fire departments said even if staffing is stretched thin, there is always a way to make sure residents are taken care of.
“When we get overwhelmed, whether it be on a grass fire or structure fire, we rely on other agencies in the county to kind of help backfill some of the other emergency needs, and vice versa. When they're busy and they need help, we'll send units,” Slater said.
Eskelsen said they know it can be concerning for customers who are without power.
“We recognize that it's really difficult to be without power in the summer, and we wouldn't do it unless the risk was as great as it is,” he said.
Rocky Mountain Power said they are telling customers in certain areas to prepare for power to be out overnight into Sunday, depending on the weather conditions.
For outage maps and more resources during power outages, visit rockymountainpower.net.
