Cedar Hills fire station looks at staffing options
.Cedar Hills pays nearly $315,000 a year for fire and EMT services from the Lone Peak Public Safety District, but since its firehouse was built about five years ago, it has been used for city offices. The issue of the location of the fire station came to the forefront recently because of a fire.
It came as a surprise to many people when a major house fire broke out in December, just a few blocks from the station, that the firefighters were not able to respond sooner. Although the response time was only six minutes, many Cedar Hills residents wondered why their station hadn't been able to respond.
Lone Peak Fire Chief Brad Freeman said he has talked to people from Cedar Hills and got the impression that if there aren't firefighters stationed in the city, the city could look for other options for fire protection.
"If this happens, we would lose their share," he said.
Each of the three cities in the district pays a portion of the cost of the district based on population for medical responders and on property values for fire coverage. Although Alpine and Cedar Hills are close in population, the property values differ, so Alpine pays a larger percentage of the cost. Highland pays $629,870; Alpine, $440,000; and Cedar Hills, $314,566.
Of the three cities, only Cedar Hills is without a staffed station. The Alpine and Highland stations have four firefighters on duty at all times, and now the cities are trying to figure out a way to staff the station in Cedar Hills.
When discussing a report last week on the Lone Peak Fire Department, Highland Councilman Brian Braithwaite told the Highland City Council the people in Cedar Hills should have the same service as Alpine and Highland.
Highland Councilman Tom Butler said to fully staff the Cedar Hills station could cost anywhere from $230,000 to $450,000 a year and the fire department was currently running a $130,000 deficit.
"Alpine City Council passed a resolution to wait until July to man the Cedar Hills station," he said.
Highland city administrator John Park noted the cost would be split between the three cities and so would be more feasible.
Freeman doesn't want to wait until July, and proposed hiring two part-timers.
"There are part time people knocking down our door to get a position," he said. "We could have the part-time people work longer hours in our station and save money on benefits and retirement costs by using other part-time people over there. Cedar Hills said it could move its offices into the basement within 24 hours."
"The brain dies after four to six minutes without oxygen, so having a two-man team over there would help greatly with the medical response time," Freeman said. "OSHA rules will not let anyone go into a structure on fire unless there are four firemen on site. However, two men could do a lot of prep like laying lines until more firemen got there."
The Highland City Council all agreed to support a plan to staff the Cedar Hills fire station as soon as possible.
The Lone Peak Fire board will meet on Thursday at 7 a.m. to discuss how and when to staff the Cedar Hills station.
.Cedar Hills pays nearly $315,000 a year for fire and EMT services from the Lone Peak Public Safety District, but since its firehouse was built about five years ago, it has been used for city offices. The issue of the location of the fire station came to the forefront recently because of a fire.
It came as a surprise to many people when a major house fire broke out in December, just a few blocks from the station, that the firefighters were not able to respond sooner. Although the response time was only six minutes, many Cedar Hills residents wondered why their station hadn't been able to respond.
Lone Peak Fire Chief Brad Freeman said he has talked to people from Cedar Hills and got the impression that if there aren't firefighters stationed in the city, the city could look for other options for fire protection.
"If this happens, we would lose their share," he said.
Each of the three cities in the district pays a portion of the cost of the district based on population for medical responders and on property values for fire coverage. Although Alpine and Cedar Hills are close in population, the property values differ, so Alpine pays a larger percentage of the cost. Highland pays $629,870; Alpine, $440,000; and Cedar Hills, $314,566.
Of the three cities, only Cedar Hills is without a staffed station. The Alpine and Highland stations have four firefighters on duty at all times, and now the cities are trying to figure out a way to staff the station in Cedar Hills.
When discussing a report last week on the Lone Peak Fire Department, Highland Councilman Brian Braithwaite told the Highland City Council the people in Cedar Hills should have the same service as Alpine and Highland.
Highland Councilman Tom Butler said to fully staff the Cedar Hills station could cost anywhere from $230,000 to $450,000 a year and the fire department was currently running a $130,000 deficit.
"Alpine City Council passed a resolution to wait until July to man the Cedar Hills station," he said.
Highland city administrator John Park noted the cost would be split between the three cities and so would be more feasible.
Freeman doesn't want to wait until July, and proposed hiring two part-timers.
"There are part time people knocking down our door to get a position," he said. "We could have the part-time people work longer hours in our station and save money on benefits and retirement costs by using other part-time people over there. Cedar Hills said it could move its offices into the basement within 24 hours."
"The brain dies after four to six minutes without oxygen, so having a two-man team over there would help greatly with the medical response time," Freeman said. "OSHA rules will not let anyone go into a structure on fire unless there are four firemen on site. However, two men could do a lot of prep like laying lines until more firemen got there."
The Highland City Council all agreed to support a plan to staff the Cedar Hills fire station as soon as possible.
The Lone Peak Fire board will meet on Thursday at 7 a.m. to discuss how and when to staff the Cedar Hills station.
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