Residents of Henefer now have a fire station with around-the-clock staffing for the first time in the small community’s history, thanks to a federal grant that allowed the North Summit Fire District to remodel its South Henefer Road facility.

The building had already been in use as a fire station. However, grant funding helped the department finance an approximately $400,000 upgrade to install bedrooms for firefighters so they can be on-call in the area 24/7.

“About two and a half months ago, we took on the project of remodeling this building to be ready to house firefighters in here,” said Tyler Rowser, a battalion chief with the North Summit Fire District. “We have a … different place from where it was before.”

Community members were invited to tour the updated fire station as part of an open house last week, getting a glimpse of the firefighters’ living quarters and the garage where emergency equipment is stored.

“Having a better functioning facility here is important to the community and to our firefighters because it’s a safer environment for them,” Rowser said. “We were able to get a system to help extract all the exhaust out of the bays when the trucks start up. … We were able to incorporate that into this project as well to help with getting that out and with cancer prevention.”

Rowser called the remodeled building a “milestone” for the Henefer community, saying the Fire District plans to station three firefighters at the location to increase response times to incidents in Henefer. Previously, first responders would travel to Henefer from Coalville or Morgan County, which added approximately 10 minutes to response times.

North Summit Fire Chief Ben Nielson shared similar sentiments in a speech at the open house shortly before a group of firefighters cut through a firehose with the jaws of life, the nickname for a hydraulic-powered rescue tool used by emergency responders — the fire station’s version of a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“This is unprecedented for Henefer,” Nielson said. “You’re going to have a full-time agency, with firefighters living here 365 days a year, 24/7. It’s going to be something you’ve never seen before.”

The building itself isn’t the only upgrade to the fire station, though. Nielson told the crowd of excited Henefer residents that other improvements include paramedic rescue services, a new ambulance and a variety of fire engines stationed in the middle of the small town.

“If anything happens locally, they should be able to handle it,” Nielson said. “You’re going to have fast response times out of here for the area, and then also a little bit of an announcement is that we’ll be covering paramedicine for Morgan County, also. We’re pretty excited that this station is going to be pivotal for the entire area to get better from the Wasatch Back all the way to Wasatch.”

Henefer Town Councilor Steven Dallin, who sits on the North Summit Fire District’s administrative control board, said he supported the project as a government official and resident of Henefer.

“We’re excited to have this type of setup in town where we can rely on having not only firefighters, but EMTs,” Dallin said. “Henefer’s been 10 minutes away from either Morgan or Coalville, so we’ve always been right in the middle. We’re excited to have a full-time staff right here.”

Nielson similarly remarked on the differences between the North Summit Fire District in its current iteration as a professional organization compared to how the agency operated as a volunteer fire department prior to 2022. He thanked the Park City Fire District for their continued support in the organization’s efforts to expand services in North Summit.

“Our mission today is to make sure that the taxes you have given to us, the support you’ve given to us are actually in use and being used for a good cause,” Nielson said. “I want to promise you that we will keep that promise for you guys and keep making it better and better.”

Dallin said he hopes the updated facility also gives residents a greater sense of comfort and security.

“It’s one of those organizations where you don’t ever want to use them, but when you’re in need, it’s good to have them close,” Dallin said. “We’re excited to have this as part of our community, with an organization that is dedicated to the community and our town and our residents. We appreciate their service and what they do for us.”

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Summit County’s fire districts say they’re prepared for hot, dry weather conditions that are expected to increase wildfire dangers across the state this summer, with district leadership at all three agencies committing to ongoing collaboration and coordination with each other to better protect all residents.

County Fire Warden Bryce Boyer in an update to the Summit County Council this week said fire activity has been picking up across Utah over the last two months, but Summit County hasn’t had any burns breach the 10-acre mark so far.

However, other areas of the state have already had wildfires stretching more than 400 acres, Boyer said, which is why it’s important for local departments to stay vigilant this year.

“They’re not expecting (conditions) to get any better as it goes. We will probably see it getting a lot drier,” Boyer said. “We’re in drought conditions. It’s not as bad as … the rest of the state, but we’re in that orange (area) where it’s persisting or expected to increase.”

Bryce said the current conditions in Summit County are closer to what he would expect to see in late June, not mid-May. Meteorologists across the state have predicted temperatures will rise to above average levels this summer while precipitation levels will decrease unless there’s a significant monsoon season.

Specifically, Boyer said Summit County should have “normal fire behavior” for the remainder of the month, with “above normal fire behavior” predicted for June, July and August.

There have been some benefits to the low snowpack, though.

Boyer said cheatgrass, an invasive plant species found throughout Utah, hasn’t grown as much over the winter as it would in typical years. The stunted growth is helpful in Summit County because cheatgrass often facilitates the spread of wildfire, becoming an appealing source of fuel as the plants dry out in the hotter months.

“That’s how we had that big fire in Parleys,” said Park City Fire Chief Pete Emery, referring to dry grasses in hot conditions. “Every instinct of a driver is, if your car catches on fire, pull into the high grass. We feel we’re in a good position, and we’re really starting to mitigate that.”

Boyer said he expects most wildfires in Summit County this year to be at higher elevations where there’s more timber, but state agencies have already added more aircraft to their command posts, which should make firefighting operations in difficult terrain slightly easier.

“There are some shortages on the federal side, so it’s balancing that out, but (the aircraft) are exclusive to the state primarily,” Boyer said. “They will be kept in-state whereas the federal resources can be moved out of state.”

Summit County has 147 red-carded firefighters, or firefighters specifically trained to handle wildfires, spread throughout its three fire districts, as well as AI-powered cameras trained to detect smoke and make reports to dispatchers.

There are only a handful of cameras in the county so far, each positioned on a mountain peak for a better view of the area. Emery said the cameras are helpful, but there are still some issues to work out, including training the system to recognize controlled burns.

The North Summit Fire District has also crafted an agreement with the Wasatch Peaks Ranch Fire District, a special fire district in Morgan County tied to the area around the private Wasatch Peaks Ranch Ski Resort. North Summit Fire Chief Ben Nielson said the district had 16 wildland firefighters stationed nearby to provide support in case of a fire, with the Summit County agency providing paramedicine services to the community in return.

“Candidly, I think they’re going to be very quick versus some state units coming from the valleys or anything like that,” Nielson said.

South Summit Fire District has expanded since last summer, adding two more full-time firefighters to its staff for a total of six. South Summit Fire Chief Scott Thorell said the new hires mean the district could staff all three of its brush trucks in the event of a wildfire if necessary.

“We tried to recruit mostly from within our community so in bigger incidents we can call back personnel if needed,” Thorell said.

County Emergency Manager Kathryn McMullin also touched on emergency communications with residents, telling the County Council that the department’s methods are becoming more efficient, especially when it comes to evacuation alerts and time sensitive information.

“We are seeing improved numbers in the ability to reach cell phones within a geographic perimeter,” McMullin said. “With all incidents, there’s a little bit of a lag in the cell phones we can reach depending on if they’ve been out of the area or in the area, so that’s getting better at all times. We believe we can get to about 95% of people doing a geographic alert.”

McMullin praised the three fire chiefs and their respective departments for being open to collaboration with the county and with each other, saying there is a stark difference in how the agencies communicate compared to others across the state.

“It just goes to the mission of taking care of citizens,” Thorell added. “I think we all don’t care what the boundaries are. We care about how to get the job done.”

County Council Vice Chair Roger Armstrong thanked the districts for being proactive in their planning and mitigation efforts, saying it benefits residents to know they’re protected.

“Sometimes these things just blow up quickly, and they travel, especially if the winds are blowing hard. It’s stunning how quickly it can move,” Armstrong said. “Identifying those critical areas, evacuation plans, making sure the (homeowners associations) in those areas are aware of their evacuation plans … all of that is going to be critical for this season and seasons to come.”

Summit County residents can sign up to receive emergency alerts by visiting summitcounty.info/notifyme, and non-emergency information on wildfires, including weather conditions and current restrictions, is available by texting SCFIRE to 91896.

Wildfire information is also available at summitcounty.info/fire. 

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The North Summit Fire District responded to multiple incidents over the weekend, including an explosion in Coalville that left one person with serious injuries.

Around 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, fire crews were called to a structure fire and explosion on East 150 South in Coalville, according to a press release posted on social media.

First responders arrived on scene to find that a detached shed had blown up and one person had sustained “critical burn injuries.” The Summit County Sheriff’s Office in a shift report specified the man had “severe burns to the arms, legs and face.”

A medical helicopter transported the individual to a burn center in the Salt Lake Valley.

Crews secured the scene and extinguished the fire, but the cause of the explosion is still under investigation.

The department had responded to two other incidents earlier on Sunday afternoon, beginning with an agricultural burn around 4 p.m. The burn, located near River Bend Road in Wanship, had spread beyond its intended area, prompting firefighters to contain it.

While working on the fire in Wanship, crews were alerted to another brush fire around 5:30 p.m. on East Henefer Road. They determined it was a controlled agricultural burn reported by a passerby. The property owner had the burn under control, and fire crews did not take any further action.

“These incidents highlight how quickly conditions can change, especially with agricultural burns,” said battalion chief Tyler Rowser. “We appreciate our partner agencies, the Park City Fire District, South Summit Fire District and Morgan County Fire Department for their support and want to remind residents to take extra precautions and ensure fires are properly managed and monitored at all times.”

The press release said the North Summit Fire District plans to ask the Summit County Council this week to enact fire restrictions in unincorporated parts of the county on May 1. Similar requests will also be made to the Henefer Town Council and Coalville City Council.

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The North Summit Fire District responded to multiple traffic accidents in Echo Canyon on Thursday after a sudden storm caught drivers by surprise.

“Rapidly changing weather in the canyon created slick, hazardous driving conditions,” the department said in a social media post. “Echo Canyon is known for sudden weather shifts, and today was a strong reminder of how quickly conditions can deteriorate.”

Emergency crews were dispatched to three separate accidents, all of which were westbound on Interstate 80.

The social media post also thanked the Uinta County Fire District for its assistance with the emergency calls and praised the “strong partnership” it has with the Wyoming department.

“Please slow down, increase your following distance and be prepared for changing weather conditions when traveling through the canyon,” the post said. “Your safety — and the safety of first responders — depends on it.”

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The North Summit Fire District is walking back its proposed property tax increase and has asked the Summit County Council to discontinue the Truth in Taxation process this year.

The fire agency is largely independent, but the County Council is responsible for greenlighting its budgets on an annual basis, including any potential tax increases. Councilors were set to hold a public hearing and final vote on a proposed 4.56% tax hike on Wednesday.

But the district has now reversed its course.

In a staff report published earlier this week, North Summit Fire Chief Ben Nielson said the agency’s administrative control board held a specially called meeting in late November “to evaluate the necessity” of the increase.

“During the meeting, district staff presented updated financial projections, anticipated revenues, capital needs and operational impacts associated with maintaining current service levels,” the staff report said. “After reviewing the information and discussing potential tax implications, the Board determined that a Truth in Taxation process was not necessary at this time.”

Nielson in an interview on Tuesday said the community’s overwhelmingly negative response to the proposal spurred the decision.

“We just want to make sure that everybody knows that we listen to your concerns,” Nielson said. “We heard your ideas, and then as a district, we remain committed to making the decisions that reflect the will and the values of the people that we serve. … This represents our continued dedication to transparency, public involvement and responsible governance.”

The public hearing scheduled for this week was not technically canceled, though, because only the Summit County Council has the legal authority to end Truth in Taxation proceedings. Councilors will either accept the board’s recommendation on Wednesday or decide to proceed with the property tax increase and public hearing.

The proposed 4.56% increase would generate an additional $100,000 for the North Summit Fire District next year, with the funds going toward ongoing operating expenses. Nielsen previously said the intent was to keep up with inflation, not to expand programming or staffing — a challenge the department is still facing.

“All it does is kick the can down the road with the high cost of inflation, with the high cost of tariffs,” Nielson said. “Everybody’s been affected by this, including the fire district.”

As for the North Summit Fire District’s 2026 budget, Nielson said the plan is simply to eliminate the additional $100,000 that the agency anticipated receiving from the tax increase. Most of those cuts will affect the department’s fleet vehicles and maintenance, according to Nielson.

“The whole goal of this, though, is we feel like this hopefully buys us some time because there are a lot of things pending in the community, with the Wohali project and the growth going on,” he added. “We don’t know what’s going to happen exactly in this next year, so what this does is buy us one more year to figure it out.”

Summit County Council Chair Tonja Hanson, who represents the North Summit area, told Nielson in October that she was wary of raising property taxes because of the 0.5% emergency services sales tax that voters passed last year.

Hanson said voters saw the new sales tax as a way to hold off on property tax increases. She encouraged county staff and the North Summit Fire District to work together to see if the generated revenue could assist the fire agency with any of its needs instead.

Hanson additionally expressed concerns about public opinion in the wake of a 300% property tax increase in 2022 to fund the North Summit Fire District. But Nielson said the 4.56% raise was intended to prevent such a large increase from happening again in the future.

“We promised the community to never do the large increase that we had to do again,” he said. “My philosophy and the board’s philosophy is we take smaller bites as we go and not have to wait 30 years to do Truth in Taxation again.”

Summit County Manager Shayne Scott in November proposed an $826,800 grant program funded through emergency services sales tax revenue as part of the county’s budgeting process for 2026. He specifically pointed to the proposed program as a potential solution for the North Summit Fire District’s budget.

State law mandates the tax revenue can only fund emergency medical services, search and rescue, law enforcement, fire protection, solid waste collection and land acquisitions related to allowed uses, such as an expansion of the Three Mile Landfill.

Summit County has a few partners — namely the three fire districts and municipal police departments — that qualify for assistance under the emergency services sales tax statute, even though the agencies are not necessarily run or entirely funded by the county government. Through the grant program, the county could distribute tax revenue to those partners in addition to funding county departments, Scott explained.

“That could help us, but I think people are confused because that money doesn’t help with operational costs,” Nielson said. “That’s a one-time fee that is given to the grant applicants. That’s a county tax that was levied, not a North Summit Fire District tax. … What I want people to know, though, is that those are two separate things.”

Nielson said the department received some money from the county’s emergency services sales tax, but it’s not enough to fund ongoing expenses or prevent tax increases in perpetuity.

“We’d be derelicting our responsibilities if we just said, ‘Hey, we’re never going to raise people’s taxes again,’ because the fire district has to be successful for the safety of the citizens,” he explained. “We should be fiscally responsible and cover our own operational costs, our ongoing costs, and the (emergency services sales tax) is not for that.”

For a primary residence worth $722,000, the 4.56% property tax increase would add $20.88 onto an owner’s annual bill. For a business worth $722,000, the tax would add $37.97 per year.

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The Summit County Council held a public hearing on Wednesday to consider potential projects that may be eligible for funding through a Community Development Block Grant program in 2025.

“The CDBG program can fund a broad range of activities, including but not limited to construction of public works and facilities, water and sewer lines, fire stations, acquisition of real property and provision of public services, such as food banks and homeless shelters,” explained Annette Singleton, an executive assistant in the county manager’s office.

Singleton, who attended a training on Community Development Block Grant applications earlier this year, said she is willing to help anyone who might need assistance before the Jan. 15 deadline.

“Between Summit and Wasatch, the funding allocations are looking like approximately $623,000, so we have a pretty good opportunity for Summit County to receive some of those funds if we meet the requirements and get the applications on time,” Singleton said.

County Councilor Roger Armstrong said he knew $623,000 would not be enough funding to build a new fire station, but he proposed the idea of repairs for overhead doors and other items in need, specifically mentioning North Summit.

“I think they want to do an exhaust system at North Summit because the sleeping quarters are right next to the ambulance and the fire truck bay, and so they need to exhaust some of that air out,” Armstrong said.

North Summit Fire District Chief Ben Nielson told the County Council the Fire District had applied for a CDBG grant two years ago but were denied. However, he said he is willing to go through the application process again for the exhaust system, which he hopes to install in 2025.

There were no other proposals discussed on Wednesday, but county councilors emphasized the application window closes in a month and any interested applicants should begin the process sooner rather than later.

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