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Mayor's Message, March 2025: Your Tax Dollars At Work: Fire

In short

The mayor’s March column covers the fire department and what it does with tax dollars. Firefighters answered 1,904 calls for service in 2024, an average of more than five a day, and call volume is up 58% over the past five years. Nearly two-thirds of last year’s calls were medical. The mayor gives two reasons for adding a new fire station: call volume that often overlaps, and parts of the city that crews cannot reach fast enough because the freeway cuts through town.

Everything else

Call volume and the new station

  • The mayor writes that the fire department responded to 1,904 calls for service in 2024, an average of over five calls a day, and that many of those calls overlap. Page 1
  • Call volume has risen 58% over the past five years as the city has grown. Page 1
  • The mayor writes that a resident in an emergency should not have to wait because all city resources are already committed, and that the new station will put additional teams closer so crews can reach more people faster against national response time targets. Page 1

What the department does

  • Nearly two-thirds of the emergency calls answered this past year were medical. The department includes paramedics and ambulance services along with structural firefighting. Page 1
  • Firefighting in the city also covers wildland, hazardous materials, vehicle, dumpster, and grass fires. Page 1
  • A large number of firefighters are trained in Advanced First Aid and Emergency Medical Training in addition to the department’s paramedics. The mayor writes that the department has the most state certifications from front line to leadership. Page 2

Other points

  • The mayor writes that the emergency room now open in the city, which he says will someday expand to a full hospital, will mean more ambulance calls to transport patients. Page 2
  • The mayor writes that firefighting is an in-demand career statewide and encourages young people considering it to meet a firefighter. Page 2
  • Contact for Mayor Dave Maughan: [email protected], 801-927-7752. Page 1

Unofficial digest of a city newsletter. The official version is linked below.

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