Spanish Fork transitions from volunteer to full-time fire crew due to growth | News, Sports, Jobs

Spanish Fork will expand its fire and emergency medical services department from a team of volunteer firefighters to a full-time and part-time team.

Currently, the city employs one full-time and one part-time ambulance crew, with firefighters working on a volunteer basis and receiving a stipend per call.

Now the part-time ambulance will transition to full-time service and the city is hiring a new team of full-time firefighters. Current volunteer firefighters will become part-time employees with an hourly wage.

Eddie Hales, chief of Spanish Fork Fire & EMS, said the city's growth has necessitated the department's expansion so crews can respond to calls quickly.

“As we grew, the need for faster response times (increased), and infrastructure and routes to and from fire stations with traffic became an issue to get trucks out faster “Hales said. “That’s why the need pushed us to move from volunteering to full-time. »

Recent U.S. Census population estimates show that Spanish Fork has continued to grow, with the city adding approximately 1,415 residents in 2023, for a total of 45,557. In 2010, Spanish Fork had approximately 34,700 residents.

Hales said Spanish Fork Fire & EMS has been volunteer-based since its founding in 1908. In total, the city is hiring about 15 new crew members, including fire captains, engineers, firefighters and paramedics.

Along with growth, increased employment opportunities outside the city have made it difficult for volunteer staff working elsewhere to respond quickly to incidents.

“This will allow us to have a minimum of firefighters on site 24 hours a day and have consistent daytime staff available to respond and make that daytime response more robust,” he said. Hales added that they want to have a two-minute response time once a call comes in.

Volunteer firefighters will be transitioned to part-time employees and will be available as a secondary response to the full-time team.

“They (the part-time fire crew) will continue to respond from their homes to the fire station when called,” Hales said. This allows full-time firefighters to pull out one truck and respond within the two minutes it takes, then part-time crew members come in with a second truck to assist.

“As we experience greater growth and people's time becomes more valuable, compensating them for the time they spend away from their families and other jobs is a necessity to continue providing high-level services in Spanish Fork,” he said.

Hales said the current full-time ambulance was transitioned from a part-time crew in January, and now the second ambulance will also transition to full-time as they adjust the fire crew.

The need for more paramedics and EMS crew members became evident when the city welcomed a new hospital in 2021, Hales said, which took into account the EMS team's already-experienced growth.

Hales said firefighters hired full-time will most likely have to come to the department, have already been trained and have obtained their certifications so they are ready to start the job. For part-time positions, he added, the department can provide training as needed.

Hales said the “spirit of volunteerism” is strong in Spanish Fork and the change has nothing to do with a lack of people willing to volunteer their time to serve in the fire department.

“We have great respect for our volunteers for all that they have done here in Spanish Fork, for the commitment they have brought, the service they have provided and the foundation they have laid for the services of fire and emergency can take this next step to continue providing a high level of service to our community,” he said.

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