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Fire chief warns staffing gap leaves Pleasant Grove at risk as calls rise
Summary
Fire Chief Drew Engemann told the council that call volumes remain high and daily staffing often falls short of the department’s seven-per-shift goal, creating coverage gaps and long response windows; one-time wildland revenue cannot sustainably fund new positions.
Fire Chief Drew Engemann told the City Council that Pleasant Grove’s emergency response demands have grown substantially and staffing has not kept pace.
“On average we respond to six calls per day,” Engemann said, and noted the department logged 2,152 calls in 2025 (2,243 entries recorded in iSpyFire, some for which city engines did not respond). He said the department needs seven people per shift (five full-time and two part-time) but averaged about six, leaving 368 unfilled shifts in 2025 and creating occasions when the City had minimal or no coverage. Engemann described an incident in which it took nearly an hour and a half to reach a bicyclist injured on a trail when the station had no available crews.
Council members pressed on the implications for public safety and how the City communicates its protection levels to residents. Council Member Williams said the public should understand how busy the department is and the historical budget context; Council Member Andersen called the operation “too lean.” Engemann also cautioned against using transient revenue for permanent hires: “because it is one-time money, not ongoing revenue, it would not be prudent to use it to hire additional staff.”
The chief compared Pleasant Grove’s staffing ratios to neighboring cities, noting Pleasant Grove has roughly one firefighter per 2,500 residents versus the more common one per 1,000–1,400 target. He described routine mutual-aid responses from nearby departments — which increase arrival times by 10–12 minutes when they occur — and said interagency support helps but does not substitute for local capacity. The department reported 543 fire prevention inspections in 2025 and 900 training hours across joint recruitment/training efforts with nearby cities.
Next steps: the council scheduled further budget discussions in March focused on public-safety staffing and asked staff to present cost and service trade-offs at the March 3 work session.
