Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — As Utah Task Force 1 rescued people from Harvey’s floodwaters in Houston, Unified Fire Authority had to get creative to fill the void left by 23 of its firefighters who traveled with the unit to Texas.
“That left — for the two weeks they were gone — 130 open spots on our schedule,” said UFA spokesman Matthew McFarland. “That can be a scheduling nightmare. Luckily, we’re supportive of that because it gets us a lot of experience.”
In addition to the 23 firefighters who served in Houston, McFarland said several more were away from the department on wildland firefighting duty.
Together, the 30 firefighters account for about 7 percent of the department’s roughly 400 total.
“This was one of the more difficult times for us to coordinate scheduling,” McFarland said. “I think this is probably as committed as we’ve been to working outside our response area.”
McFarland said as firefighters stepped up elsewhere across the country, others did at home.
“What it required on our part was a lot of people giving up family vacations that were planned, giving up shifts at other places of employment — because a lot of people have those — and stepping up to fill those spots and work more hours — considerably more hours than they normally would have,” McFarland said.
He said the department faced no major events while the Task Force 1 members were away but would have been able to respond to them, regardless.
“Part of the chief’s equation for allowing things to happen is being able to compensate — even in the worst case scenario here, are we going to be able to buckle up and provide service with them gone?” McFarland said. “He has that line in the sand that if it’s going to affect staffing here, it can’t happen.”
Related
Utah Task Force 1 returns home after helping in Texas
It has been a long two weeks for Utah Task Force 1. The team has been in Houston assisting with rescue efforts after Hurricane Harvey.McFarland said the overtime shifts used to cover many of the staffing holes will be reimbursed by FEMA funds.
Task force members were watching Thursday for developments related to Hurricane Irma. McFarland said the task force could be called up to any disastrous conditions left behind by that storm as well.
