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SOUTH SALT LAKE — Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson remembers attending a conference at Snowbird Resort in 2018 when she received a notification that wildfires were beginning to barrel down on Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills, a pair of cities she represented in the Utah Senate at the time.
She raced back to Utah County, where she could see smoke and flames rising from the mountaintops that fill the county's eastern horizon. She stopped in Woodland Hills, where the mayor was waving at the thousands of residents who were fleeing the Bald Mountain and Pole Creek fires, as each crept closer into the valley.
Days later, during a tour of the area, she watched as members of the Lone Peak Hotshots used tools to clear possible fuel debris and create fire lines so the fires couldn't reach either town.
Combined, the two ultimately scorched a little more than 120,000 acres of land in southeast Utah County, but they never reached the communities because of this important work. Residents would go on to name a peak in the area "Miracle Mountain" after both towns were spared.
"There were a lot of times during that 10-day period, where we thought, 'Yep, this is going to be the one that hits us, this is going to be the one that destroys these neighborhoods,'" Henderson recalled nearly five years later. "But it didn't. And it didn't in large part thanks to the good crew from (the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands), the Hotshots and, of course, local firefighters from all over the state."
These are the types of success stories that state leaders and land managers hope will continue; however, they contend firefighters were desperately in need of a new headquarters and training center to appropriately handle every new wildfire in the state.
That's why they are excited to finally break ground on the new Utah Wildland Fire Operations Center in South Salt Lake, which will serve as a new headquarters and training center for the state's wildland fire program and firefighters when it opens next year.
Jamie Barnes, director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, said it will be the central post for every new wildfire that starts on either state or private land. Utah averages a little more than 700 new wildfire starts every year, all of which have the potential to threaten public health and safety as they grow in size.
"It's an exciting step in a new direction," she said. "This new facility will help our state firefighters fulfill our objectives for responding and managing these wildfires throughout the state of Utah."
The new facility will replace the aging Lone Peak Conservation Center located on the old Utah State Prison site in Draper, which has existed since 1978. Jesse Trembly, the center's manager, explained it was built there because inmates served as the program's first wildland firefighters in an effort to fight fires and rehabilitate prisoners.
Related:
Why Utah's wildfire outlook is a 'mixed bag' this year
Utah's fire season is off to a refreshingly slow start but meteorologists say it's unclear how long that will last into the summer.It transitioned over into a civilian workforce about two decades ago, where it has grown to meet the growing demand for fighting fires in Utah. But the facility had "literally run out of space," as different buildings were used to house the 120 seasonal firefighters plus additional staff members, while some materials are located in Salt Lake City, said Utah fire management officer Brett Ostler.
At the same time, the state officially moved its prison to a new location in Salt Lake City last year, paving the way for a major redevelopment of the old site.
Ostler said the new Utah Wildland Fire Operations Center gives all of the state's firefighting efforts a new home and finally puts it under the same roof, too.
"It's been years in the making and I didn't think that it would ever happen," he said. "As we continue to grow and encroach on the wildland-urban interface, it's that much more of a need that we need to have a facility like this, so we have an easier response."
That's important for the many communities up and down Utah with homes that border wild spaces, much like Elk Ridge and Woodland Hills. Many of these areas are growing in population.
Henderson said she believes the new facility and resources will help these types of communities avoid catastrophe should a future wildfire stoke the same fears as the Bald Mountain and Pole Creek fires did in 2018.
"It has become even more important to professionalize our firefighting capabilities and professionalize what we do to manage our public lands," she said. "That has been done so wonderfully here, and it's time that they get a new facility."
