The expansion of Deer Valley’s East Village has helped improve the fire mitigation and response systems across the resort’s 4,500 acres. Upgrades to snowmaking infrastructure, including remote system control, are part of the multi-organization collaborative project.
Max Bervy, an assistant project manager with Extell Development, led the efforts to enhance fire response systems in the East Village development plans.
Because of the high elevation and dry climate, wildfires are a significant risk to ski resorts in Utah. Eagle Point Resort in Beaver, Utah, won’t open for the 2026-27 season because of wildfire damage.
Bervy was inspired by resorts in the South Lake Tahoe region, near where the 2021 Caldor fire tore through. The resorts temporarily converted snowmaking infrastructure for use by wildland firefighters, allowing the resorts to preserve most structures and land.
Over the past few weeks, crews from the Wasatch Fire District visited the expanded area of the resort now in their jurisdiction. Firefighters are learning to adapt the water systems to their gear and are understanding the layout and terrain of the mountain.
“With the complexity and capacity that our snowmaking system has, it was kind of a no-brainer,” Bervy said.
Snowmaking infrastructure has long been an option for firefighting resources, but without an automated system it would take more time to set up hoses where they’re needed.
Deer Valley recently upgraded its snowmaking systems across the East Village side to allow remote access to the whole system. Now, senior snowmaking manager Brett Hawksford can control the resort’s water system using an app on his phone. The system also has an increased water storage capacity and updated pump systems.
Wasatch County Fire District Chief Eric Hales said the technology upgrade will make it more feasible to use snowmaking systems as a primary firefighting response.
Hales said the snowguns themselves likely wouldn’t be used for initial fire attack, but they can be used to moisten the land and air so potential fires don’t spread.
Once water is pressurized and flowing through the pumps, fire response crews around the mountain can use the snowmaking infrastructure as hydrants. With this system in place, crews don’t have to navigate tanker trucks up the narrow and steep roads if a fire were to break out on the mountain.
Specific access roads for fire crews and helicopter landing zones were built into the resort’s design. Deer Valley and Extell also fitted side-by-side vehicles to serve as small fire trucks to access more remote areas of the mountain, if needed.
Firefighters will carry adapters so their equipment can connect to the pipes on the mountain. Once the water is flowing through the pump system, they can essentially use the snowguns as fire hydrants.
Because Deer Valley now spans two counties, the project requires collaboration between Extell, the Resort, Wasatch Fire District, Summit County firefighters. Chief Hales explained they have to coordinate with Ski Patrol, too, and transport with ambulances and medical helicopters.
“We really wanted to get everyone on the same page and build a standard operating procedure,” Bervy said.
Before the Deer Valley expansion, Wasatch Fire District operated within a small area of the resort. But with the opening of the East Village, the Fire District will operate within the new mountain terrain and more urban-style buildings.
Fire District Battalion Chief RL Duke said one of the biggest differences his team will see with the expansion is the response to structure fires. The firefighters usually respond to smaller single-family homes, but now they’ll have to be ready for larger structures, including high-rises.
When working in tall buildings, firefighters typically have to carry in their own oxygen in tanks. The tanks provide about 20 minutes of clean air. This makes it harder to fight fires since they have to leave the building to get clean air.
With the new development, Hales has advocated for the standardization of Firefighter Air Replenishment Systems, or FARS, being built into each building in the East Village.
“Firefighters need two things: water and air,” Hales said.
The buildings supported by FARS will have air hoses in their stairwells, alongside the existing water hoses.
“We’re able to hook into this air system that’s breathable air and we can refill those bottles,” Hales said. “We can keep that firefight and our folks a lot safer up there without having to bring additional equipment and resources to those various floors, which takes a lot of time and energy and manpower to do that.”
The East Village buildings will be the first in Utah built with FARS. Hales said the fire department has worked to add FARS in fire code standards for all high-rises in the area.
Other developments around the resort include drainage infrastructure that returns water from the snowmaking system to the Jordanelle Reservoir and Provo River, as well as treatment centers that clean lead and arsenic from the water. A 10,000-gallon water storage pond is being built that will provide water for firefighting helicopters if needed.
Fire mitigation isn’t new at Deer Valley.
Jacob Ringquist, the resort’s slope maintenance manager, used to work as a wildland firefighter, so he cares deeply about protecting the forest.
The difference between firefighting and slope maintenance is “proactive versus reactive,” he said.
Most of those proactive efforts happen outside the ski season. This summer the resort used goats and sheep grazing to eliminate vegetation that ignites easily. The team is also collecting wood for pile burning, which will happen later this fall.
The resort can still use its snowmaking systems for fire response and mitigation; it’s just more “hands-on,” Ringquist said.
“A better, healthier forest that’s more fire resilient (is) also better skiing,” Ringquist said. “As we grow and expand our footprint and what we manage, we’ll keep expanding our crew and what we do to be good stewards of the land.”