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Media Alert

PIO

Press Release

News release – Utah Fire Agencies Plan to Deploy to Fight California Wildfires

Wednesday December 6, 2017

SALT LAKE CITY — Dozens of firefighters from various Utah fire agencies are deploying to Southern California to help with firefighting in some of the recent devastating fires. The personnel are deploying under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), a system of state-to-state mutual aid.

Their deployment is expected to last 14 days.

Northern Utah fire personnel are planning to rally at the Dillard’s at the Provo Town Center Mall at 7 a.m. on Thursday, Dec 7, with a departure afterward.

Fire agencies that have submitted an intent to deploy currently include:

  • Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands
  • Unified Fire Authority
  • Salt Lake City
  • South Jordan
  • West Valley City
  • Layton
  • Wasatch County
  • Murray
  • West Jordan
  • Sandy
  • Provo
  • Sterling
  • Fairview
  • Draper
  • Castle Dale
  • Uintah City
  • Price
  • Cedar City
  • Washington City
  • Hurricane Valley

If all agencies end up deploying, this would amount to 98 personnel and 32 vehicles. Some personnel are expected to be available in Provo for interviews.

California is seeking resources to help relieve the burden on local firefighters who are exhausted from continuous operations. The current fire outbreak in California has added to one of the deadliest and most destructive fire seasons in the Golden State’s history. A similar deployment to California happened in October.

The Utah Division of Emergency Management (dem.utah.gov and @UtahEmergency on Twitter) is the State of Utah’s lead agency for EMAC requests from other states.

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Written by Joe Dougherty, PIO
Utah Division of Emergency Management
jdougherty@utah.gov

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MEDIA CONTACT

Hillary Koellner
Director of Public Affairs
Department of Public Safety
hmkoellner@utah.gov

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