The St. George Fire Department serves the City of St. George, Utah, and surrounding areas in Washington County. As one of the fastest-growing communities in the state, the department provides fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue, hazardous materials response, and fire prevention. Operating out of multiple strategically located stations, St. George Fire is a combination department made up of both career and volunteer personnel. The department is committed to public safety, community education, and maintaining a high level of readiness as the region continues to expand.
The chief has been there for over 35 years, and it’s time for new ideas and the good old boys club to go away. No more double standards for full time staff and reserve staff. No more denying overtime and refuse callbacks, letting staffing go below minimum standards. No more lack of accountability on fitness standards. We need a chief that is focused more on his personnel and less on his future station designs.
The Fire Chief has done a lot to get the department where it is today, and that deserves credit. But it still feels like he wants to be one of the firefighters instead of focusing on being the Chief. For a city department our size, we still don’t have a solid, consistent command structure on calls. Every fire ends up with multiple chiefs trying to run things — the Fire Chief, Deputy Chief, admin BC, Fire Marshal— instead of just letting the on-duty Battalion Chief take command. It makes scenes confusing and shows that we’ve still got a ways to go when it comes to modern fireground leadership.
We’ve got great stations and rigs, but the people who actually use them day-to-day rarely get asked for input. A lot of those decisions are made from the top down, which can be frustrating when we know what would make things work better.
On top of that, the department still uses volunteer firefighters, but they don’t really add much to operations. The funding and effort that go into keeping that program going could be used in better ways — like hiring more full-time staff, improving training, or supporting firefighter health and wellness.
Unlike the previous reviews that are on here for our department, I think this is an absolutely fantastic place to work. Their comments just sound whiney and ungrateful to me. Especially when you consider that we all just got tremendous raises that rival Salt Lake City’s pay scale. SGFD isn’t perfect, but it has been a great environment to work in.
My complaints:
1. Our fleet manager is a real piece of work… makes life hard for operations personnel for no reason. Grumpy and uncooperative. Please retire, bro! None of us like you or want to be anywhere near you.
2. Sleep policies are antiquated. If you don’t sleep night one, you should be able to catch up day two. End of story.
3. I do think operations personnel should have more of a say (through their captains) without eyerolling from upper management. OPs personnel have great ideas that can make things cheaper and more streamlined. Give us a chance.
4. Support through paramedic school is laughable. Though, they have made it a little easier on those choosing to go.
Good things:
1. Rapport and morale is amazing within crews for the most part. There are always issues but that’s anywhere.
2. Chiefs and admin actually care and go to bat for us. Our raise is due to Chief Stoker really pushing and giving a damn about our quality of life in one of the most expensive counties in Utah. He cares and does love and appreciate us even if he doesn’t always show it.
3. You simply can’t beat the 48/96 schedule.
4. 97% of the captains here are just absolutely kickass. There are exceptions (that need to figure it tf out) but for the most part, captains are great to be around and work with. They get it.
5. Our stations and apparatus kick butt.
6. Never Mandoe’d. I know that overtime opportunities would be a great thing for everyone if it happened more, but not being mandatoried is such a plus.
7. Department supports families. Very family friendly environment. I know it used to not be that way but it sure is now.
All in all, SGFD has its issues, but these previous reviews are just kinda goofy to me and refuse to see the big picture. We have people within the department that just complain and whine about everything under the sun. I’m sure these two are some of them that can never be satisfied.
For that reason, I gave full stars to offset their silly reviews. They most likely still work here and benefit from all the good.
Rating Breakdown
2.3/5
3/5
3.7/5
3/5
3 Reviews on “St Goerge Fire Department”
The chief has been there for over 35 years, and it’s time for new ideas and the good old boys club to go away. No more double standards for full time staff and reserve staff. No more denying overtime and refuse callbacks, letting staffing go below minimum standards. No more lack of accountability on fitness standards. We need a chief that is focused more on his personnel and less on his future station designs.
The Fire Chief has done a lot to get the department where it is today, and that deserves credit. But it still feels like he wants to be one of the firefighters instead of focusing on being the Chief. For a city department our size, we still don’t have a solid, consistent command structure on calls. Every fire ends up with multiple chiefs trying to run things — the Fire Chief, Deputy Chief, admin BC, Fire Marshal— instead of just letting the on-duty Battalion Chief take command. It makes scenes confusing and shows that we’ve still got a ways to go when it comes to modern fireground leadership.
We’ve got great stations and rigs, but the people who actually use them day-to-day rarely get asked for input. A lot of those decisions are made from the top down, which can be frustrating when we know what would make things work better.
On top of that, the department still uses volunteer firefighters, but they don’t really add much to operations. The funding and effort that go into keeping that program going could be used in better ways — like hiring more full-time staff, improving training, or supporting firefighter health and wellness.
Unlike the previous reviews that are on here for our department, I think this is an absolutely fantastic place to work. Their comments just sound whiney and ungrateful to me. Especially when you consider that we all just got tremendous raises that rival Salt Lake City’s pay scale. SGFD isn’t perfect, but it has been a great environment to work in.
My complaints:
1. Our fleet manager is a real piece of work… makes life hard for operations personnel for no reason. Grumpy and uncooperative. Please retire, bro! None of us like you or want to be anywhere near you.
2. Sleep policies are antiquated. If you don’t sleep night one, you should be able to catch up day two. End of story.
3. I do think operations personnel should have more of a say (through their captains) without eyerolling from upper management. OPs personnel have great ideas that can make things cheaper and more streamlined. Give us a chance.
4. Support through paramedic school is laughable. Though, they have made it a little easier on those choosing to go.
Good things:
1. Rapport and morale is amazing within crews for the most part. There are always issues but that’s anywhere.
2. Chiefs and admin actually care and go to bat for us. Our raise is due to Chief Stoker really pushing and giving a damn about our quality of life in one of the most expensive counties in Utah. He cares and does love and appreciate us even if he doesn’t always show it.
3. You simply can’t beat the 48/96 schedule.
4. 97% of the captains here are just absolutely kickass. There are exceptions (that need to figure it tf out) but for the most part, captains are great to be around and work with. They get it.
5. Our stations and apparatus kick butt.
6. Never Mandoe’d. I know that overtime opportunities would be a great thing for everyone if it happened more, but not being mandatoried is such a plus.
7. Department supports families. Very family friendly environment. I know it used to not be that way but it sure is now.
All in all, SGFD has its issues, but these previous reviews are just kinda goofy to me and refuse to see the big picture. We have people within the department that just complain and whine about everything under the sun. I’m sure these two are some of them that can never be satisfied.
For that reason, I gave full stars to offset their silly reviews. They most likely still work here and benefit from all the good.