Eagle Mountains Full-time Chief

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Eagle Mountain officials hire city's first full-time fire chief
By Jeremy Twitchell
Deseret Morning News

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — In the midst of a high-risk fire season, which has already seen an above-average amount of dangerous brush fires, Eagle Mountain officials announced Monday the city has hired a full-time fire chief.
The city selected Rand Andrus, a veteran firefighter with 28 years of experience who is currently the south area battalion chief in Draper. Andrus was one of three finalists from a pool of applicants. He was offered the job Friday.
"I was very nervous at first," Andrus said. "Now I'm excited and ready to take on the challenge. I hope to serve Eagle Mountain well into the future."
Vincent Liddiard, mayor pro-tem of Eagle Mountain, said the city has been working for months to secure a full-time chief.
"With the growing needs of our citizens, we (the City Council) figured this would be beneficial to the community," he said.
The move is the first step in a plan to expand the city's emergency services. Eagle Mountain is the first city in the area to have a full-time fire chief, and the city is working to license its own paramedics.
"We're somewhat isolated out here," Liddiard said, "so having a paramedic service would be beneficial to all the cities in the area. We've got a lot of land to cover, so having a strong public service department is important."
Eagle Mountain and the surrounding towns have already seen a number of brush fires this summer, the most dangerous a 3.5-acre blaze on July 6 that came within a few yards of a residence in the Ranches area of Eagle Mountain. Fire officials for the area are concerned that high temperatures will only make the risk worse.
The volunteer fire departments from the various towns in the area — Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs and Cedar Fort — have strong working relationships that translate into quick responses for fires in the area. Utah County teams are also frequent contributors on the larger blazes.
Andrus said he hopes to make those response times even better.
"When you have brush fires, it takes a lot of these smaller departments working together to contain them," he said. "It helps to have a full-time fire chief available for those types of responses."
Andrus said his first job will be to get the department prepared and staffed for its paramedic license. He said he won't be able to meet with the members of the department until after he assumes the position on Aug. 1 and said it is possible that some members of the department may decide to leave.
"There is the potential for people to leave if the existing fire chief decides to leave," he said.
Eagle Mountain's current volunteer fire chief, Robert DeKorver, could not be reached for comment.

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Full-time fire chief hired

Cathy Allred NORTH COUNTY STAFF


Eagle Mountain City has hired its first full-time fire chief. Effective Aug. 1, Rand Andrus will oversee the Eagle Mountain Fire Department's 36 firefighters including nine paramedics and will manage two fire stations -- the City Center Station or Station 1, and the North Service Area or Station 2.

Filling a full-time fire chief position is part of the city's efforts to move towards a full-time department and providing better service for its rapidly growing community.

"I'm pretty excited," Andrus said. "This is something I've been working towards for the latter part of my career, I think it's going to be interesting whereas it is so new. I still need to work out some of the plans with the city administrator, it's basically 24-hour paramedic service."

Nineteen candidates sought the position with the City Council members narrowing the selection down to three; Eagle Mountain's part time fire chief, Robert DeKorver; its deputy chief over emergency medical services, Kevin McCarthy; and Andrus, who is a battalion chief for the Unified Fire Authority.

Eagle Mountain's new fire chief has worked for UFA for nearly 28 years and is battalion chief over the UFA South Battalion out of Draper. He has his associate degree in fire science from UVSC, his bachelor's in business administration through the University of Phoenix, and is fire officer I and II, inspector I, and instructor I and II certified. He is working on his executive fire officers program through the UFA.

Andrus will be the community's third fire chief. Its first fire chief, Eric Taylor, was appointed in 1997 and the Eagle Mountain Fire Department started running calls in 1999.

Taylor resigned in Aug. 2000 to pursue his fire fighting career in other areas as a full-time firefighter in Orem and in business. The city appointed DeKorver as fire chief in Oct. 2000. The Eagle Mountain Mayor Pro Tem Vincent Liddiard called him on July 18, DeKorver said, and informed him that as of July 31 he would no longer be fire chief for the city. No other position was offered him.

A full time Sandy City firefighter and captain paramedic, DeKorver commanded the Eagle Mountain Fire Department for five years during a time of significant growth for the city. The Eagle Mountain resident got the city's emergency medical services up and running, introduced many of the city ordinances and policies promoting fire safety in the community, and helped establish a second fire station in The Ranches during this time as well as oversaw other programs.

"I will retain with Sandy City," DeKorver said in a phone interview after the Andrus appointment. "I will not be remaining on the Eagle Mountain Fire Department."