PCFD: Putting it Out for 25 Years
Photography: Jill Orschel
Many Parkites know about the Great Fire of 1898 that destroyed a large portion of Park City’s Main Street; and about the fire in 1982 that destroyed the Silver King Coalition Mine Building, a longtime symbol of our town. But not many people are familiar with the transformation of the Park City Fire Department (PCFD) from a rag- tag group of volunteers to a highly trained, well-equipped and respected fire service district. This winter, the Park City Fire District celebrates 25 years as a full-time, paid department.
The PCFD was formed in the late 1870s and operated with a minimal budget. Almost 100 years later, by the early 1980s, not much had changed. The department was still manned by a group of unpaid volunteers and still had a very small budget (in the low $70,000 range). At that time, there were two stations to protect the 96-square-mile fire district: the current station on Park Avenue and a small garage in Summit Park. PCFD’s equipment consisted of just four vehicles, most of which were old and in poor repair.
All of that has changed almost as dramatically as the color of Fire Chief Kelly Gee’s hair. In 1978, a then-brunette Gee (whose thick mane of hair is now almost entirely white) became a fire department volunteer, joining such Park City notables as Paul Kofford, Tom Sullivan (who was then Fire Chief), Bob Burns, Jim Santy, Sr. and Mel Fletcher. Gee, who became the training officer, remembers Monday night training sessions consisting of fundamentals such as “identifying tools, attaching hoses to fire hydrants and squirting water. The short training sessions usually ended with some of the volunteers staying at the station to drink beer and play poker.”
During a time of tremendous growth in Park City in the late ’70s and early ’80s, there were, according to Gee, “a lot of fires and fire loss. This resulted in a public outcry about the quality of service at the time.” One big problem was with “the lack of available volunteers during the day, because so many of them commuted to Salt Lake City to work.” There were plenty of volunteers during the evening hours, but they were not sufficiently trained or equipped. At that time, there were very few requirements for volunteers other than possessing a “warm body.” Personal safety equipment was scant. Volunteers would rush to the station in order to get a rare helmet and coat, or to be the lucky one to drive the engine to the fire.
Recognizing the change in Park City’s demographics, the Board of Fire Commissioners reorganized the department in 1983. The newly formed Park City Fire Service District began the long and involved process of transforming the volunteer department into the efficient entity that it is today. A crew of firefighters in three-person shifts was hired to man the Park Avenue station full time. Of the original crew, Gee is the only one remaining. He was named Fire Chief in 1985.
From a budget of less than $100,000 in the early ’80s, the fire district now operates with a budget of almost $11.5 million. The two lone stations of 25 years ago have evolved into six staffed fire stations, one volunteer station, and a fire prevention office. In the past few years, new stations have been constructed at The Canyons, Promontory and Silver Lake in Deer Valley. Under construction is a new station in Park Meadows to replace the current Park Avenue station and an administration building on Bitner Road in Snyderville. There are fully-staffed fire stations in every sector of the now-110-square-mile district that can quickly respond to all types of emergency calls.
That ragtag group of 30 or 40 volunteers has now grown to a force of 93 full-time employees, including support and office staff. The District is highly respected and receives 10 to 20 employment applications a week. These days, a firefighter needs to be much more than “a warm body.” Minimum requirements to qualify for a training class are: Utah Firefighter certification, either EMT or Paramedic certification, a valid Utah driver’s license and insurability. A 12-week training program with 12 qualified participants began this past August. Although the trainees are all fully certified firefighters already, the class starts with the basics and puts the candidates through an intensive and inspiring course. Gee says, “We have the cream of the crop to start with, and they become even more qualified by the end of the course.” Each full-time firefighter must maintain his or her medical and firefighter certifications and must participate in a physical assessment each year.
Following a national trend, the fire loss in the Park City area in recent years has been minimal. A joint effort between the fire service and Park City and Summit County building officials has resulted in changes in building codes that make buildings safer and more immune to fires. The District reviews plans for houses and developments to forestall future fire problems, requiring most new developments, whether business or domestic, to install fire sprinklers.
As the District has changed, so have the services provided to the community. The District now stresses fire prevention and customer service. Most calls to PCFD these days are for improper installations in new construction, accidents or medical calls.
Park City has changed dramatically in the past 25 years, and so has the Park City Fire Service District. Our hats are off to our firefighters’ dedication to our town, then and now. To learn more about the District, including its history and other services, access the official Web site at www.pcfd.org.
Carolyn Southerlin served as secretary for the PCFSD Commission for many years and as a commissioner for a short time. Her husband has been a Park City firefighter for 22+ years.
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