Unified Fire Authority briefs Riverton council on Special Enforcement capabilities: arson, explosives, canine and SWAT paramedics

At a Riverton City Council work session, a Unified Fire Authority (UFA) liaison and Chief Paul Larsen described UFA Special Enforcement work, including arson investigations, a canine accelerant‑detection component, bomb and explosive response capabilities, and paramedics embedded with South Valley SWAT deployments.

UFA’s presenter explained the unit’s arson investigation function and demonstrated that the agency uses canines to detect accelerants such as gasoline or diesel at fire scenes. The presenter said the bomb squad is fully trained and equipped to mitigate explosive incidents and emphasized interagency cooperation: "Great interaction, great collaboration with Riverton Police Department," the presenter said, describing unified command in an emergency.

Chief Paul Larsen described the SWAT paramedic integration and emergency response considerations. On operational impact, Larsen said the presence of traffic‑calming features can affect response times: "We need to anticipate it ... it slows us down," he said when councilmembers asked whether speed humps affect fire vehicles. He added that whether a vehicle is damaged depends on rate of speed and how engineers design the device.

The presentation included a show‑and‑tell with equipment staged in the parking lot; the liaison invited councilmembers and residents to inspect the units and to ask questions of personnel on site. The presentation concluded without any formal request for action; councilmembers thanked UFA and moved on to other agenda items.