Duchesne County discusses drought response, wildfire mitigation and shifting fire department resources

Duchesne County commissioners devoted extended time Feb. 2 to drought conditions, fuels-reduction work and how recent personnel changes in a neighboring city fire department could affect county fire response.

Speaker 8, reporting on drought and mitigation operations, said "about 2/3 of the county is moderate, and the northern half is starting to become severe," and described a 14-day outlook that could bring above-normal precipitation but also higher temperatures. He said staff have been doing targeted mitigation assessments on Tabby Mountain and that a local grant would fund multi-year work on high-priority properties.

"Travis Wright did get a a grant about 140,000 for Tappy Mountain specifically in the state," Speaker 8 said, describing a two- to three-year program that will tie county assessments to private-property mitigation. Commissioners discussed staging of large cut material on county-owned property (repeatedly referred to as the county's 16 acres) and agreed staff should track where removed vegetation is taken and require signed work plans for mitigation on private property.

Speakers described tradeoffs between chipping and burning and noted concerns about spreading invasive species. "The only thing we're gonna ship is native," Speaker 8 said when asked about chips leaving mitigation sites. Commissioners agreed that state and county programs would be used in tandem and that oversight was needed so commercial operators do not profit from county-supported mitigation inappropriately.

The meeting also covered recent changes in a neighboring city's fire leadership. Speaker 8 reported that "Mike Fire has replaced the chief" and that an interim chief, Allen, is serving; he warned the change could affect dispatch boundaries and mutual-aid arrangements and said the county would monitor operational impacts and seek to preserve county assets and response capability.

Commissioners discussed equipment options to shore up response capacity, including obtaining tactical tenders from Summit County and accepting a Type 4 wildland truck from a state program. Speaker 8 described short-term reconfiguration of pumps and tenders as a lower-cost alternative to buying new apparatus.

Next steps noted in the meeting: staff will continue mitigation assessments, prepare a list of fire-department equipment needs to present to commissioners for consideration, and track any operational changes from the city fire-department transitions. No formal vote was recorded on equipment purchases in the segments provided.