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DRAPER — Ten hours a day, four days a week, Parker Hansen and a crew of wildland firefighters can be found up on Draper's east bench hard at work. They are part of the Draper Fire Department and they are specially trained to do fire mitigation and fight wildfires should one break out.
"This is our skid steer. It's got a mulching attachment on it. We utilize this to create more defensible space," said Hansen, who is the wildland supervisor. "This work is very critical. It would be very dangerous if we had fire up here, with the terrain and the topography, how steep these slopes are. Up on top of this mountain is the town of Suncrest, a community. There's a bunch of homes."
The area has not seen any fires this season, but fires have already popped up on a daily basis in a variety of places throughout Utah. The heat combined with low humidity has made for some very dangerous conditions.
"Essentially a tender box for us right now, we are very concerned," said Draper Fire Deputy Chief Steve Pearson said. "We roughly have 2,500 to 3,000 acres of wildland-urban interface that we face a huge threat."
That's why Pearson said they are planning a big social media blitz on fire safety in the coming days as fireworks season is about to get underway. Part of that includes making fire restriction signs to go up in neighborhoods.
"Our best ammo against fire is to use prevention, to have conversations with neighborhoods," Pearson said.
If you are doing fireworks Pearson suggests purchasing them from a licensed vendor, making sure the area you are lighting them in is not restricted and only have one person at a time light them while another person handles the water hose or bucket of water if needed.
"Enjoy your family, do what you do, just do so safely, so we don't have to meet under those (fire) circumstances," Pearson said.
