Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Wildland Deployment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ogden Fire details new wildland deployment team and revenue-recovery model
Summary
Fire Chief Slater told council the department has 12 firefighters trained and ready for state and federal wildland deployments, the program cost $40,000 to outfit personnel and is expected to return more than $100,000 in billings that will be reinvested in equipment and mitigation work, with safeguards to avoid depleting local coverage.
Fire Chief Slater presented an informational briefing on a new wildland deployment program that places trained Ogden firefighters on state and federal deployments under an MOU and the EMAC compact.
"We now have the 12 firefighters that participate in state MOU and wildland deployment through EMAC," Slater told the council, saying the program was created in roughly six months and leveraged existing funds to equip personnel. He said the department invested about $40,000 to provide individual wildland packs and training had already been secured. Slater added that early billings from deployments exceeded $100,000 and that roughly $30,000 will cover wages and overtime while the remainder will be placed in an account for equipment replacement.
Chief Slater stressed reciprocity and safeguards: deployed personnel are volunteers who deploy off duty, the department will not deplete local response capacity, and the city may decline requests if coverage would be impaired. On federal EMAC deployments, Slater said federal backfill covers overtime costs; state deployments do not fully reimburse backfill costs and the city absorbs some expense.
Council members asked for clarification about backfill and whether local shifts are covered; staff confirmed mutual-aid agreements and described interjurisdictional practices used to retain in-city resources. Slater said the deployments return skills and experience that improve local wildfire response and will contribute to mitigation work, reducing the city's long-term risk.
