Each and every year, the Unified Fire Authority hosts "Fire School 101," an all-day event where city leaders, municipal employees, and other community members participate in firefighter training and watch demonstrations.
"I hope you leave today tired, sweaty, maybe a little hungry," said Fire Chief Dominic Burchett. This year, a group of participants from Taylorsville, Herriman, Brighton, and other cities started the day at 6:30 a.m. just like a firefighter would. "When I was a little boy who wanted to be a firefighter, this dream's coming true!" said Jeff Bossard with the city of Brighton.
One of the first big takeaways of the day was realizing the weight of the bunker gear.
"A snowsuit times ten. It's extremely heavy. I was not anticipating the weight," described Anastasia Limantzakis.
KSTU-TV FOX 13 Salt Lake City
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Saturday, May 4, is National Wildfire Community Preparedness Day and the Pinebrook Fire Safety Committee is inviting the Summit County community to an event to learn about wildfire safety.
The free event is at Pinebrook Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It starts with with a 45-minute hike led by Brad Washa, a Pinebrook resident and assistant professor of wildland fire science at Utah State University. During the hike along Two Mile Creek, Washa will show community members forest health concerns and work done by the fire safety committee to mitigate fire hazards.
After the hike at 11 a.m., speakers will discuss wildfire prevention. Park City Fire Marshal Mike Owens said the fire district will discuss its chipping program and how it can help community members prepare for wildfires, like checking around a home for risks.
KPCW-FM 91.7 Park City
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As wildfire season approaches, communities across the country are looking for ways to prevent fires from ever starting.
Causes like lightning are outside of our control, but electricity is still flowing through wildfire country in the form of thousands of miles of power lines.
In fact, utility power lines are either a suspected or determined cause in several high-profile deadly wildfires in the last ten years. Officials said power lines were the cause of the devastating Camp Fire that tore through Paradise, California in 2018. Power lines are also suspected of starting some of the deadly wildfires that went through Oregon in 2020.
“We don’t want to be the cause of the fire and we also want to do anything that we can to reduce overall wildfire risk,” said Jona Whitesides, a spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power.
KJZZ-TV CBS 14 Salt Lake City
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