Logan city personnel help with Calif. fires

Logan City Fire Department has dispatched a structure pumper with three personnel on mutual aid to Southern California with two other structure fire engines from Utah. The other pumpers came from Layton City and Syracuse.

The response is a result of an Emergency Mutual Aid Compact (or EMAC) request from California to the State of Utah. The Utah State Department of Public Safety then placed a request for fire resources through the vehicle of the Utah State Fire Chiefs Association.

The deployment, which is heading for Madera, California, is for a two week stint. Under the EMAC agreement, the cities sending the resources will be fully reimbursed for their personnel and equipment costs.

One of the foundational principles in all mutual aid agreements is that no jurisdiction is expected to unreasonably deplete their resources such that they are unable to adequately protect their hometown. Logan City will still have 43 fire suppression personnel, three structure pumpers, an aerial ladder truck and three brush trucks left in Logan to cover the city, according to Logan Fire Chief Mark Meaker. “Therefore,” he said, “the deployment will not place Logan citizens at risk.”

Deploying with the engine from Logan City will be Assistant Fire Chief Jeff Peterson, Paramedic Driver-Operator Ken Mathys, and Firefighter-EMT Jason Gibbons. It is believed that the deployment is somewhat historic as it is the first time Logan City has ever sent personnel that far for mutual aid, other than four personnel that were sent to the Gulf region after Hurricane Katrina.