UNIF Fire District reports rising call volume, uses PILT and mineral lease funds for capital purchases

Jeremy Raymond, presenting the annual report for the UNIF Fire District, told the Uintah County Commission that the district responded to 654 calls in the previous year and has seen a steady rise in call volume over the past decade. He presented available activity and training figures, described incident-type breakdowns (brush fires, alarms, hazmat, structure, medical), and said some departments have growing medical-call volumes due to local traffic and population patterns.

Raymond credited county PILT and mineral-lease allocations for enabling recent capital purchases such as washers/dryers for stations, turnout gear and SCBAs, a wildland brush truck and extrication tools. He outlined a 5- to 10-year capital list that includes additional pumpers, ATVs and an Avalon pumper truck, and said the district plans to increase certified firefighter counts and offer a fire-inspector course locally.

Raymond also described operational realities: most firefighters are paid on-call or part-time, volunteer recruitment is challenging, and some inspections numbers fell when the county lacked a full-time inspector. He said the UNIF Fire District conducts new-construction and existing-business fire inspections and will expand wildland-urban-interface inspections to cities under recent state legislation. Raymond answered commissioner questions about false alarms and said the district works with businesses on a three-strike approach to reduce repeat false alarms.

The report closed with recognition of mutual-aid responses and thanks to the county for funding support.