On the Front Lines: Ogden Fire Chief Mike Slater on a Tough Year for Firefighting

What does it take to keep our community safe during a challenging year for firefighting? On this episode of the PoliticIt Podcast, Sen. John Johnson welcomes Ogden City Fire Chief Mike Slater for a conversation about public safety, the demands facing firefighters, and the people who answer the call when emergencies strike.

When someone calls 911, they usually do not care which division of the fire department handles the problem. They need somebody to show up and help. That might mean treating a medical emergency, pulling someone from a wreck, responding to a hazardous materials spill, or stopping a fire before it reaches a home.

That is the job we prepare for in Ogden. It is also why I believe a fire department has to do more than respond well. We have to ask what we can prevent.

It sounds strange coming from a fire chief, but one of my goals is to put us out of business. If fewer people need to call 911 because they are safer and healthier, that is a win for the community. We will always be ready when an emergency happens. The better outcome is to catch a problem before it becomes one.

That approach matters during a difficult wildfire season. It matters when someone needs medical help but not an emergency room. And it matters in the neighborhoods along Ogden’s east bench, where preparation on one property can affect the homes around it.

PoliticIt Radio – Before the Sirens Call

Why I Chose the Fire Service

I did not grow up expecting to become fire chief. As a young man, I thought I might go to medical school and work in oncology. My mother was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer when she was only about 35 or 36. I saw physicians, oncologists, and people in the community surround her as she battled it. Their care made an impression on me. I wanted to help people in that same meaningful way.

I grew up in western Weber County and started looking for a path into medicine after high school. Then a friend whose father was a fire captain encouraged me to consider the fire department. He pointed out that I could get out into the community and begin helping people right away.

I tried it. I volunteered for about a year, and I was hooked.

At that point, I would have been happy to spend my career as a firefighter, maybe become a paramedic or a captain, and retire. Instead, one opportunity led to another. I started as a reservist, was hired full time by Ogden City, and worked my way through the ranks. I served as an operational battalion chief for several years before becoming deputy chief. When the previous chief retired, I applied for the position and was fortunate to be appointed.

After 27 years with Ogden City, what brought me here is still what matters most: the chance to help somebody when they need it.

Why I Became a Paramedic

The fire service gave me a way to combine that desire to help with my interest in medicine. I started as an emergency medical technician, earned my fire certifications, and kept looking for what more I could learn. I eventually put myself through paramedic school and began working as a paramedic firefighter around 2000 or 2001.

Within the fire service, paramedics provide advanced life support and represent our highest level of prehospital medical training. That preparation matters when decisions must be made before a patient reaches a hospital.

I still maintain my paramedic certification, although I do not practice in the same way I did when I was assigned to that role every day. I keep up with the training because those skills remain valuable. If I come upon a wreck or another situation where I can help, I want to be able to do it.

What It Takes to Serve Ogden

People understandably think of fire engines when they think of us. But Ogden City Fire Department is an all-hazards department. We respond to medical calls and structure fires, of course, but our responsibilities also include airport firefighting, heavy rescue, trench rescue, river rescue, and hazardous materials incidents. A train derailment, a fuel spill, or an incident where nobody yet knows what is happening can all bring the fire department to the scene.

We have about 135 firefighters and operate out of five stations. We handle around 23,000 calls a year. By calls per station, that puts an extraordinary amount of work on our crews. Training is essential, but so is the experience our firefighters gain by serving the community day after day.

Our medical staffing reflects how important emergency medical care is to that work. We have about 32 paramedics overall. Of those, 24 are assigned to paramedic squads, while others serve on ambulances and fire engines. We are deliberate about those squad assignments because we need strong clinicians in positions where they will be called on to provide advanced care. Most of our remaining firefighters are advanced EMTs.

There is no such thing as preparing for only one kind of call. The person who needs help cannot be expected to sort an emergency into the right category before calling. Our responsibility is to build crews with the training and judgment to meet a wide range of needs.

The Best Emergency Is the One That Never Happens

Responding quickly will always be a core part of our job. But response alone cannot be our entire public safety strategy. Once somebody is hurt, displaced, or seriously ill, even excellent emergency care cannot undo everything that has happened.

That is why I keep coming back to working further upstream. Where are people repeatedly running into trouble? What can we address before the next 911 call? Where can education, practical assistance, or a connection to the right service make a real difference?

Our civilian community risk reduction work is part of that effort. So is community paramedicine. These programs do not replace firefighters, ambulances, or hospitals. They help us recognize that some problems are best addressed before they reach the emergency stage.

Meeting Unsheltered Residents Where They Are

One example came out of a pattern we could see in our calls. About 10% of our annual calls involved people who were unsheltered. That told us there was a significant need, but it also raised an important question: how many of those needs could be addressed before an ambulance trip or an emergency department visit became necessary?

When I was deputy chief overseeing the medical division, we used grant funding to create a homeless medical advocate position within the fire department. It was a new idea for us. Three years later, it has become a program I am extremely proud of.

Our advocate works at the homeless shelter, close to many of the people she serves. She also has a van so she can go to a park or an encampment and meet somebody where they are. That flexibility matters. It is difficult to help a person with a developing medical problem if the only way to reach them is to wait for an emergency call.

Her work includes checking whether people have needed medications, helping them connect with doctors, and identifying concerns before they become urgent. Sometimes the appropriate next step is a clinic, including the Midtown Clinic, or another facility that can address the person’s needs outside an emergency setting.

In one year, we reduced 911 transports from the shelter facility by 258. That is a meaningful change. It represents fewer ambulance transports from that location and more opportunities to direct people toward care that fits their needs.

The position also takes the right kind of person. Our advocate has a good heart and a genuine desire to serve. The medical deputy chief who succeeded me has continued leading the work and taking it in a new direction. It is encouraging to see a practical idea grow into an ongoing part of how we care for the community.

This is what prevention looks like in everyday terms. Not every medical concern requires an emergency room. But people still need someone who will listen, help them understand their options, and connect them with care before a manageable issue gets worse.

A Difficult Wildfire Season for Utah and Ogden

Wildfires have been one of our biggest challenges. Across Utah, more than half a million acres had burned as we discussed the season’s demands. Ogden is not immune. We have experienced major fires here, and our firefighters have done tremendous work protecting homes and stopping fires from advancing.

Our responsibility extends beyond city limits, too. Fire does not respect jurisdictional boundaries. At one point, we had three firefighters helping with a fire in Utah County, and we received a request to send personnel to assist with a new fire near Promontory. Those deployments help other communities, but they require careful planning. We still have to protect Ogden and the wildland urban interface along the county’s east bench.

To strengthen our response, we stood up a wildland deployment division in six months, even though we had been told it could take a year. We brought in someone with experience who had started his career in Texas and advanced through the ranks in Utah. Building that capability has helped us meet a demanding season while developing the expertise we need for what comes next.

We also have three brush trucks. Every Ogden firefighter holds a minimum wildland firefighting certification in addition to structural firefighting qualifications. Members of our deployment teams have additional certifications for more specialized work in rugged areas.

Having that capacity does not mean the risk is over when a particular fire is contained. Until cooler, wetter conditions arrive, we continue monitoring the threat. Our brush units remain active along the east bench because conditions can change, and we need to be ready.

Why the East Bench Demands Preparation

The wildland urban interface is where developed neighborhoods meet vegetation that can carry a wildfire. Along Ogden’s east bench, that creates a challenge that no fire department can solve by itself.

We do annual mitigation work in that area and want to work in neighborhoods to improve defensible space. But residents are a vital part of the effort. The area immediately around a home can influence what happens when a fire approaches. So can conditions on neighboring properties.

We talk with people about creating separation between vegetation and their homes, moving combustible fuels away from structures, and considering noncombustible materials. We also encourage neighbors to have those conversations with each other. A well-prepared house can still be threatened if a nearby home burns and the fire spreads from structure to structure. The destructive fires in California have shown how serious that kind of spread can be.

None of this is quick or easy. Property owners, neighborhoods, and the city all have work to do. Yet it is better to spend time and resources on mitigation now than to wish we had done it after homes are lost.

Prevention can be difficult to measure precisely because, when it works, the disaster does not happen. People may see the effort and expense without seeing the fire that never reached a neighborhood. From my perspective, that is exactly the outcome we should be working toward.

How Firefighters Remove a Wildfire’s Fuel

Some wildland tactics sound counterintuitive until you understand the goal. A trained crew may deliberately light a fire to help stop a larger one. The purpose is not to add to the threat. It is to remove fuel under controlled conditions before the advancing fire can use it.

Firefighters first need a suitable boundary. They may use a natural fire break or create a line with heavy equipment. If conditions and the plan allow it, crews can then burn from that line back toward the main fire. The controlled burn consumes vegetation in its path, leaving less fuel for the advancing fire and reducing its energy.

That work requires additional training and close attention to conditions. Embers can travel far ahead of a wildfire, sometimes as much as a mile, so crews must account for where they may land. This is specialized work for qualified firefighters, not something a property owner should attempt.

The principle, though, is straightforward: fire needs fuel. Whether we are creating space around a home or using a carefully managed burn in the field, taking fuel away can change what a fire is able to do.

Structure Fires Remain a Constant Demand

The attention on wildfires is warranted, but it does not reduce the calls we handle in the city. In Ogden, we respond to a structure fire roughly every three days. Some are small kitchen fires that a crew can bring under control with a hose line. Others are more extensive. We had about 120 working structure fires in the previous year.

Then there are vehicle fires and the many other incidents that require our crews. A department cannot pause its regular work while it builds wildland capacity or sends firefighters to help elsewhere. We have to be prepared for what happens at home on any given day.

That is why I am so proud of the men and women of Ogden City Fire Department. They carry a demanding workload, maintain a wide range of skills, and keep answering the call. Our city administration, mayor, and council have also supported public safety and given us the backing to do the job our community needs.

I first met Mayor Nadolski before he served on the city council. I was a captain when he came to our station for a ride-along because he wanted to understand public safety firsthand. He spent the day with our crew. Over the years, he moved from the council to the mayor’s office, while I continued my path through the fire service. Those paths eventually met again when he appointed me chief.

That experience reinforced something important to me: public safety works best when the people making decisions take time to understand the work and the people doing it.

Serving the Community and Respecting Its Resources

Ogden’s fire department works for the people of Ogden. That means being ready when a family needs us. It also means taking seriously how we use taxpayer dollars.

Fiscal responsibility cannot be just a phrase we repeat. We have to run as efficiently as we can and make thoughtful decisions about staffing, equipment, and programs. Public safety requires resources, but we should do everything we can to use the resources we have wisely before asking the community for more.

Prevention belongs in that conversation. When a medical advocate helps someone get appropriate care before an emergency, that can reduce avoidable 911 transports. When neighbors create defensible space and the city conducts mitigation work, we are investing effort before a wildfire threatens homes. Those decisions are about caring for people and being responsible with public resources at the same time.

We cannot do all of it alone. We need residents to look after themselves, take safety seriously, and help keep their neighborhoods safer. That does not mean anyone should hesitate to call 911 when they need us. It means that, together, we can reduce some of the situations that lead to that call in the first place.

When an emergency does happen, our firefighters will be there. Until then, we will keep training, preparing, and working upstream. If that means fewer people ever need our help, I will count it as success.

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