A history of the Layton City Fire Department

ALL Layton City Fire Department personnel were volunteer firefighters until January 1, 1975, when John H. Adams was appointed as the first full-time member of the Layton Fire Department.
A new fire station was built at 199 North Fort Lane in 1972. This station currently remains in operation.
When Layton Hills Mall was built in 1979, the decision was made to purchase a combination aerial ladder truck and pumper for fire protection.
By July of 1981, six full-time firefighters were hired to man the station 24 hours per day seven days a week -- two men per shift. A full-time secretary position was created July 10, 1985.
On Oct. 1, 1992, Layton’s second fire station opened on the City’s east side, at 2701 North Church Street. At that time six additional full-time firefighters were hired to man the fire station with two men per shift, 24 hours per day.

The paid-on-call firefighter staff was expanded in 1992 to 27 firefighters. All members of the department were then certified EMTs. They also had certification as Firefighter I, Hazardous Materials Awareness, and Operations.
In February of 1992, a part-time fire inspector was hired to assist the Fire Marshal. This part-time inspector position became full-time in July, 1999.
In October of 1993 Layton City received approval from the Utah State Bureau of Emergency Medical Services to license an ambulance service for Layton City. Two licensed ambulances with automatic defibrillators were purchased and placed in service May 3, 1994, one in each fire station. During the first year of operation the ambulance service responded to over 1,300 calls for service. Two additional ambulances were added to the ambulance fleet in 1997.

In the fall of 1997, construction was started on a third fire station located at 530 North 2200 West to serve the west side of Layton City. This station became the new headquarters station with approximately 12,000 square feet of finished space. Nine full-time firefighters were added to the roster at this time along with six paid-on-call firefighters in
order to allow for manning of all three stations 24 hours a day. The Station was staffed and began serving the public in July of 1998.
In the year 2000, application was made with the Utah State Bureau of Emergency Medical Services for Layton City
Fire Department to operate one paramedic unit in joint licensure with the Davis County Sheriff’s Office. On April 2, 2001, this paramedic unit went into service to provide ALS services for the citizens of Layton City.
In 2002 several of the cities in the north end of Davis County started up their own ambulance services and the Davis County Sheriff’s Office discontinued their ambulance service. At that time, Layton City agreed to provide ambulance service to South Weber City and a large portion of Hill Air Force Base, areas previously covered by the Sheriff’s Department.
In December of 2004 the department added its second paramedic unit and hired an additional six full-time paramedics to staff that unit. Our deployment model was changed from paramedics responding on a squad and the paramedics were assigned to fire engines companies and respond as Firefighter/Paramedics. The Utah Bureau of Emergency Medical Services granted the Layton City Fire Department an exclusive ALS Paramedic License to operate the Department’s Paramedic Services.
The Fire Prevention Division is responsible for fire code enforcement, fire investigations, provision of fire and life
safety training programs, and coordinating the department Fire Corps program. The award winning Fire Corps program
also includes over 60 high school students.

                                         An early Layton fire station.

The Layton City Fire Department currently provides fire protection and medical coverage for 25 square miles of
property, which includes unincorporated areas of the County. The City has a fire agreement with Davis County to
protect unincorporated areas. The City also has an agreement with the Davis County Solid Waste Management and
Energy Recovery Facility and Landfill to provide inspection and firefighting needs. The Department also provides
ambulance services for the city of South Weber and a large portion of Hill Air Force Base.

                                Layton's first fire truck in 1928.
                                              (Photo from Heritage Museum of Layton's Collection.)

The Department has mutual aid agreements with all the surrounding fire departments in Davis County including Hill Air Force Base to assist in the time of major emergency.
Since 2006, the Fire Department has provided wildland fire suppression outside of the county through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Utah Forestry, Fire and State Lands. Through this MOU, fire personnel have gained extensive
experience in major wildfire operations.
In turn, the City has utilized the reimbursement money to purchase several wildfire apparatus, including a 3600 gallon water tender.
The Fire Department is an active participant in both the regional hazardous materials response and urban search and rescue teams.
In 2014, for example, the Layton City Fire Department
responded to 5,334 incidents, resulting in 9,133 apparatus responses.

              The Layton Fire Department responds to serious vehicle crashes.